BarryHutchison.com

Living in the middle of nowhere, it’s not often I get to go and browse round a bookshop. Yesterday, as luck would have it, I was near a Waterstones, and so I decided to pick up a couple of books for . . . ahem . . . research purposes.

It turned out they had a 3 for the price of 2 sale going on, so I ended up taking them up on that offer. The books I picked up were Tom Becker’s Darkside – which looks like it might be quite scary. This one was completely for research. The more children’s horror I read the better, what with Project IFR being a . . . Whoops, almost said too much!

Anyway, I started reading this last night and so far so good. Didn’t get very far into it, as it was late, but what I read was really enjoyable. Haven’t been scared yet, but hopefully it’ll come. What makes the book particularly special in my eyes, though, is not the contents. It’s the fact the cover is GLOW IN THE DARK! Anyone who knows me will most likely be aware of my love of all things glow in the dark. That faint, eerie green glow casts a spell on me, and I find it almost impossible to tear my eyes away until the magical light has faded back into darkness.

Even now, just writing about it, I want to go and look at some glow in the dark stuff. I love it. Deeply. In a way no grown man should.

Anyway, moving on. Next on my list or purchases was Chill by Alex Nye. Set up here in Scotland, this is a genuinely creepy story which also manages to incorporate a bit of Scottish History. Sadly no part of the book binding illuminates when the lights go off, but it’s still a fab read, and one I couldn’t put down after picking it up. Definitely worth checking out if you like your horror creepy and atmospheric.

Finally, on the recommendation of fellow author and all round top bloke, Tommy Donbavand, I picked up a copy of Tim: Defender of the Earth. I haven’t read any of this yet, so can’t tell you anything, aside from the fact it’s written by Sam Enthoven, has a dinosaur on the cover and (presumably) features a bloke called Tim. I can only assume he somehow defends the earth from some threat – possibly the aforementioned dinosaur. Once I’ve read it I’ll do a full review and let you know.

So that was that. One shopping trip, and now I’m sixteen quid lighter. I also picked up a bookmark, but that was free and isn’t really worth writing about, so I don’t know why I’m bothering to. I’ll stop now.

As mentioned earlier, Amazon now have my first Egmont book available to pre-order. It’s part of a series, which I was one of four writers on, and as a result isn’t under my name. It’s a big departure from my usual writing style, but the whole series is a great read, aimed at 7-9 year old boys. Good, clean, family fun.

Apart from the urination scene . . .

Click here to get the book from Amazon. You know you want to!

On Friday, after a fortnight or so of rewriting, I managed to put the finishing touches to my rewrite of the manuscript we are for the moment calling Project IFR.

The rewrite involved making some pretty sizeable changes, mostly because when I wrote draft one I had no idea where the rest of the series was going. Now that I know exactly how the whole thing progresses and ends, I had to go back and make the first book fit.

I’ve never been a big fan of rewrites, even though I know they’re a necessary part of shaping a story. This time round, though, I had a ball, and I think the manuscript has been massively improved upon.

On another note, the first of my Egmont 2HEADS books is available on Amazon. I’ll post a pic of the cover along with a link later today.

..yes!

On Friday I went to Glasgow to meet up with a potential agent. I can now reveal the agent was Kathryn Ross of Fraser Ross Associates, and that it all went rather well. It went so well, in fact, that they are now officially my agent (aside from the small matter of signing the contracts, which is still to be done in the next week or so).

So it’s good news, and bodes well for Project IFR, which I’m currently in the middle of rewriting. I also left Kathryn with a copy of a much earlier manuscript – Johnny B. Weeyerd and the Cosmic Annihilator – to see if she thinks it has any chance of publication. It was my first attempt at a children’s book, so I won’t be holding my breath!

On another note, sorry about the current site layout. Believe it or not, I used to work as a web designer – I just haven’t had time to put together a proper site. I will do soon.

Er . . . well, soon-ish!

Okay, so how do I start? I suppose I could start by introducing myself as Barry Hutchison, an author who lives in the Highlands of Scotland, and whose first two children’s books are about to be released by Egmont.

But no, too predictable.

Maybe I could start by telling you about my fantastic family, and how reading books to my five year old son is what got me into writing for chilldren in the first place.

Nah, too corny.

Instead I’ll start this blog with this: I am on a train.

Where am I going on the train? We’ll come to that later. Why am I going there? We’ll come to that later still.

I thought of a long list of reasons why it would be a good idea to start this blog. I thought it might be a good way of letting my friends and family all over the world know what I was up to. I thought it might be a good way to let readers of my books get in touch to tell me exactly what they do and don’t like about them. In the end though, it really comes down to the fact that I just like to write.

I’ll happily write on most subjects, really – even those I know absolutely nothing about. (which is most things).

In the past I’ve written about computer games, monsters, assassins, toys, comics, music, and too many more topics to mention. I’ve even written about books, which is one thing I do know a little bit about.

Okay, I admit I do know quite a bit about games and toys, too. And far too much about comics for a man my age. In fact, when it comes to all things superhero, even my son calls me a geek!

But anyway, back to me sitting on this train. I think we know each other well enough for me to tell you where I’m going. I feel comfortable sharing that information now. So here it comes.

I’m going to Glasgow.

For those of you who don’t know your geography, Glasgow is one of Scotland’s biggest cities, and is located on the West Coast, about a hundred or so miles south of where I live. Hence me taking the train and not, for example, walking.

I like Glasgow. I like Edinburgh more, but I’m not going to Edinburgh, so there’s no point even mentioning it. Forget I said a thing.

Glasgow is renowned for its excellent shops, its fantastic architecture, and its violent psychopaths – but none of these are my reason for visiting. That’s not to say I won’t visit a comic shop or two, but that’s not the point of the trip.

No, I’m travelling to Glasgow because I’m meeting a literary agent. Hopefully they are going to represent me and help me sell my 9-12 year old horror series, which for now we’ll call Project IFR. That’s not its real name, but giving the title away would give a big hint about the story, and I don’t want to go revealing that just yet.

I reckon this is enough to fill a first blog posting. I don’t want to overload you with information, and my fingers are tired from typing on the tiniest keyboard in the world.

I’ll go now and enjoy the view, as I munch on the insanely expensive Kit Kat I’ve just bought from the woman with the trolley. I don’t even like Kit Kats, but the only other thing she had was a packet of Cheese and Onion crisps, and since it’s only eight o’clock in the morning, it’s a little too early for me to start eating those. Particularly as I don’t like Cheese and Onion crisps either.

Anyway, feel free to leave a comment on the blog and I’ll do my best to reply as soon as possible.

B’bye for now!

Barry