Blog
9 August 2007
Just got back from holiday so if you've emailed you should now have an answer. Do check the contact page and scroll back through.
Posted by Julia Golding on 09 August 2007
27 July 2007
For the rain it raineth every day - so sings Feste in Twelfth Night, one of my favourite plays by Shakespeare (I'll have to use it in Cat somewhere!). Living in Oxford as I do, you would be forgiven for thinking this is true this summer. I hope where you are it is a brighter prospect. Have you checked out the Big Wild Read website? If you are doing the UK library reading scheme, you might like to take a look as lots of authors are contributing and there's a chance to leave your comments/questions for them.
Posted by Julia Golding on 27 July 2007
22 July 2007
Are you like me a Harry Potter fan? Well, after taking my other half to the bus station at 5 this morning, I sat up and finished Deathly Hallows. Wow. J K Rowling has ended with a masterful flourish of her writing wand, bringing all the threads together, but no spoilers here. I hope you enjoy it as much as I did. It's a bit sad to see the Harry Potter phase of children's literature come to an end. Will we queue up outside bookshops at midnight for any other title? I think not. I'm personally very grateful to her as she has livened up children's fiction, made us authors serious contenders for critical attention, and written cracking stories at the same time. So thank you, J K.
Posted by Julia Golding on 22 July 2007
19 July 2007
Some interesting things been happening recently. First, a really positive review of Ringmaster in the Telegraph last weekend - it's reassuring to find that others like your work. I'm also working on the final draft of Cat 5 so those of you out there eager to find out what happens next you can rest assured that it's all down on paper and only waiting for publication. I'm taking part in the British libraries summer reading scheme, the Big Wild Read (join up at your local library). I'll post more details of my blog and q&a session next week.
Posted by Julia Golding on 19 July 2007
11 July 2007
I'm just patting myself on the back for doing a really boring task involving accounts (groan). There is something rather wonderful about getting through a job that you hate, isn't there? Today is the day I also started Cat 6 - I even found a title for it which is unusual this early on. I won't give it away yet but look out for more clues as the weeks pass. Have you noticed the pattern yet in the Cat Royal titles? There's your first clue.
Posted by Julia Golding on 11 July 2007
19 June 2007
I have now returned from my trip to Canada (greetings to the children in Toronto and librarians of Montreal!). I managed to fit in some sightseeing - Niagara Falls being the high point: you can sail right into the mist at the bottom of the falls and see the rainbows. I also appeared as a studio guest on YTV, getting Conrad the presenter to dress up in my Cat Royal hats and wigs. I wonder what the youth of Canada made of that! Next on the agenda is the Polka theatre in Wimbledon on Sunday - watch out for a very theatrical event!
Posted by Julia Golding on 19 June 2007
6 June 2007
I'll be in Canada for the next week. Events include: sharing a platform at Enwave Theatre Toronto with fellow writers Kenneth Oppel (great website if you want to look it up!) and James A Owen of dragon fame. I'll be signing books in the Publishers Group Canada BEC Booth at the Toronto Convention Centre on Sunday morning. School events on Monday then an appearance on YTV's the Zone on Tuesday, possibly followed by something at the Toronto Public library. Wednesday sees me in Montreal then home by Friday 15th.
Posted by Julia Golding on 06 June 2007
5 June 2007
Answer to those of you enquiring about Australian supply of Companions books. Seems you have to wait until December for Chimera :( so part of the answer may be just a time lag between release in UK and books reaching Aussie shops. This is the reply in full from my editor: 'Our Sales Director has spoken to her colleagues in Australia about your books, following the mail you'd had from somebody saying that she was finding it hard to track them down over there. The books are available and all of the shops have taken them, though it seems that they are taking them in small numbers, so it could be that the girl's local shop had sold out. Apparently the shops take very small quantities of all 'non-Australian' books - unless they are 'Jacqueline Wilson, Lemony Snicket or Harry Potter' - but our Australian sales person is pleased with how the books have subbed in generally. The other reason that your fan may have had trouble recently is that many Australian shops are gearing up for their Harry Potter promotions, which may mean less space for other titles. On the plus side, we have, apparently, just mailed Primary and Secondary school librarians in Australia (approx. 8,000) with a selection of our fiction and non-fiction titles, and this brochure included the 'Companions Quartet', so they are expecting a good pick-up from that, and they have also already had a couple of advance orders for 'Chimera', which isn't out there until December. So, all signs are good and, hopefully, it is just a blip that your fan wasn't able to find the book she was looking for.'
Posted by Julia Golding on 05 June 2007
4 June 2007
Just back from the Listowel Literary Festival in the beautiful west of Ireland. Thanks to the boys at the Convent school for teaching me the rules of Gaelic football. Next stop for me is Canada (Toronto and Montreal) so if you're a Canadian fan, look out, I'm heading your way.
Posted by Julia Golding on 04 June 2007
23 May 2007
I had great fun in Birmingham libraries yesterday as part of their literary festival. En route I was shown the two towers - supposedly the inspiration for Tolkien who lived round there for a while as a child. They look very small now, but I suppose at the time they would have seemed huge when the area wasn't so built up. They are, however, very interesting shapes - gothic and slightly odd - so you can see them lodging in a boy's imagination and growing into something suitable to Middle Earth.
Posted by Julia Golding on 23 May 2007
20 May 2007
I had a fun time on Wednesday when I was chosen as one of the Waterstone's 25 Authors for the Future. The party was a close-packed affair at the store in Piccadilly. It would have been nice to have more time with the other authors as they came from such interesting and varied backgrounds - cookery writers, historians, literary novelists, thriller writers and three of us writers for the younger end of the market. The photo of us all appeared in the papers the next day, giving my lovely great-aunt a bit of a shock over her cornflakes as I had not told my family about it. I've seen Ringmaster in Waterstone's and Blackwell's bookstores, so if you are a fan and want something new to read, you can buy it now. Let me know what you think.
Posted by Julia Golding on 20 May 2007
14 May 2007
I'm doing a panel event on historical novels with Adele Geras during the Edinburgh festival and we've been in contact in advance about themes that we might discuss. This has made me think about what I do in a more analytical way. It is a strange business dabbling in the past. You know that people must have been like us in the most basic sense - our brains are still wired the same after all - but sometimes behaviour is hard to comprehend. You have to exert a great deal of imagination to get there. One example to help you understand what I mean: I'm researching the Vikings at the moment and have come across the practice of infant exposure (abandoning unwanted babies). Very grim but regarded as an important cultural right. When Iceland went Christian about a thousand years ago, the followers of the old ways even argued to keep the right to do this. Fortunately it didn't remain long as part of the culture. I suppose in a more up-to-date example, slavery poses similar problems. And it still goes on today. Maybe what I'm fretting about is just the mysterious 'otherness' of people who can sincerely held beliefs miles apart from your own. Hmmm.
Posted by Julia Golding on 14 May 2007
3 May 2007
I was in Bath yesterday visiting St Gregory's and Hayesfield school (hello year 7). My main topic was 'The Ship Between the Worlds' but the game I thought of for the first session ended up as a bit of a mess so I had to quickly change what I was doing (sorry St Gregory's) - the afternoon went much more smoothly. Very impressed by beautiful Bath - as a fan of Jane Austen and all things 18th century I know it well but it looked particularly fine yesterday in the sunshine.
Posted by Julia Golding on 03 May 2007
26 April 2007
I've just received my copies of Ringmaster which should mean it will be in the shops very soon. I hope you like it (it's my daughter's favourite of all the books I have written). I'll open the page for comments so you can let me know what you think. If you like adventure, exotic travel and spy thrillers then this is the book for you!
Posted by Julia Golding on 26 April 2007
19 April 2007
My very clever website designer has arranged things so that my blog and events now appear on my front page - I'm very impressed. I hope you find this new tweak to the site helpful as you'll be able to check up on me on one page.
Posted by Julia Golding on 19 April 2007
6 April 2007
I think today marks the official end of draft one of Cat 5. I'm going to call it 'Black Heart of Jamaica' so you'll guess that it's set in the West Indies. I've been doing the 'extra bits' (glossary, critics, index etc.) which are always fun.
Posted by Julia Golding on 06 April 2007
2 April 2007
Have you noticed the new look front page? As more and more books come out, I needed a new approach so I hope you find it easy to navigate. Let me know your feedback. More or less finished the first draft of Cat 5 and am now in the nice stage of tidying up. If my editor does her stuff on time, it should be out next february (after Cat o'nine tails in August).
Posted by Julia Golding on 02 April 2007
26 March 2007
I'm getting close to the end of the first draft of Cat 5. My Cat Royal life can get very out of step as often I'm writing something you won't read till next year, promoting a Cat book that I wrote some time ago while editing another for publication in a few months. I have to think hard to keep all the story lines clear in my mind.
Posted by Julia Golding on 27 March 2007
11 March 2007
I had a rather disconcerting experience via my comment page: an accusation of faking the reviews. I thought you might like to see the exchange as it is important you can trust this site. I promise you: there is no faking it here! This was the original comment, from someone called Kirstie: Just a comment about the reader feedback - all these comments appear to have been written by one person! (someone who can't spell or punctuate properly). Maybe they are faked comments? They give the impression that your books are aimed at rather low achievers. It might be a good idea to try to get hold of some more literate sounding comments as well, perhaps? And the comments also don't quite ring true, as they are so extremely positive. Just thought you might find this useful! Reply from Julia - Hi Kirstie. Here are the facts: I administer the site myself and make a point not to correct reader responses so they are in the true voice of the person submitting them. None of them are faked and as far as I can tell from the individual emails noted on submission all are from different people. As for being positive, I assume only those who are enthusiastic about my books go on line to tell me so it is a bit of a self-selecting group and I make no apologies for that. If you have a problem with spelling and punctuation you need to take it up with the people who set the national curriculum but I think my readers are far from low achievers (if they're managing a Cat book they'll have both a high literacy score for reading and historical knowledge by the end). As part of the txting generation, my explanation is that they think they do not have to jump through spelling hoops on this site as it is a relaxed and informal exchange meant to keep me abreast of reaction to my books. As you can see, I also post the negative and gramatically correct comments too, not afraid of criticism such as yours. I would have preferred your comment to have come without the accusation of faking it on my part, as it was completely unwarranted and a bit upsetting. :(
Posted by Julia Golding on 12 March 2007
7 March 2007
I've just come back from trips to Liverpool, Sheffield, Surrey, London, Southampton and Stourbridge. I've discovered that the Blue Peter feature on Cat among the Pigeons includes a vote so if you want to back Cat follow this link...
Posted by Julia Golding on 07 March 2007