BarryHutchison.com

The second in my Invisible Fiends series, Raggy Maggie, is published in just over a week, and it has already started getting some very positive feedback. In fact, the first review has been published – and it’s a stonker! Go check it out over at The Cat’s Rrar.

Now, if that’s got you salivating at the thought of some good clean horrific fun, you might want to download and read this free sample chapter from the beginning of the book. Don’t say I’m not good to you.

Not as painful or unpleasant as it sounds, thankfully. You can browse (or read, even) big chunks of book 1 in my Invisible Fiends series, thanks to some fancy gizmo from the bods at HarperCollins.

Apparently all I have to do is post a snippet of code here and it should work perfectly. Fingers crossed.

Browse Inside this book Get this for your site

Did it work, then?

Mr Mumbles' hat, Oz style

I’ve just realised that today is the 1st of June, which means today is the day Invisible Fiends: Mr Mumbles is published in Australia and New Zealand.

Now, I’ve never been to Australia or New Zealand, but I’d love to visit both. So, if you live in either country, please pop out and buy a copy (or several copies, if you want) so that the book is a massive success and I get to come over and do a tour.

The book should be available in most bookshops, but if you’re struggling to find it then take a look at the HarperCollins Australia site, which gives more details on where you can buy it in Australia. If you’re in New Zealand, you can find out the same information on HarperCollins New Zealand.

At the end of my tour with Sorrel and Kate a couple of weeks back, I was asked by the lovely people at the Scottish Book Trust if I’d write a blog post. I did. And here it is.

This guest posting malarkey has made me think it might be quite nice to guest post on some other blogs. So, if you run a blog and fancy me stoping by and talking nonsense for a bit, just let me know via the contact page.

Next week, I’ll be setting off on an 8 city UK tour, with fellow HarperCollins authors, Kate Maryon and Sorrel Anderson. Don’t believe me? Check out the poster below.

See? Told you.

As well as the lovely posters, the good people at HarperCollins Children’s Books have set up a blog, where everyone on the tour – and I mean everyone – will be posting updates, letting the world know how it’s all going. You can follow the action at SpilltheInkBooks.com, as well as here on BarryHutchison.com and on my Twitter feed.

Hoping to put up a new video blog tonight, but it’s taking forever to upload to YouTube and it has failed the last three times. If it doesn’t go this time I’m calling it a night before I smash something valuable with something very heavy.

Well, I didn’t win the Author Blog Awards, but then I didn’t really expect to. The well-deserved winners were Emily Benet, Sam Starbuck, and the living legend that is Neil Gaiman. All three blogs (well, Twitter feed, in Neil’s case) are brilliant reads, and well worth adding to your bookmarks if you haven’t got them in there already.

The whole competition was an excellent idea, and I’m really pleased that BarryHutchison.com made it to the final shortlist. I had been toying with the idea of letting the blog go to pasture, and concentrating instead on the social media sites I use (see the list on the right) but making the awards shortlist has really renewed my enthusiasm for blogging, so expect to see more regular updates on here from now on.

I have a few exciting announcements coming up over the next few weeks. The first is that I’m going to be running an internet auction which will allow the winning bidder to either appear, or to nominate someone else to appear, in issue one of my upcoming comic mini-series, GANGRENE.

The exact ‘role’ that will be available to bid on will be announced when the auction starts (this weekend, if all goes to plan), and all money raised will go towards the costs of producing and marketing the comic. I’ll post more info here when the auction is ready to go.

If you’re new to the blog and are wondering what all this GANGRENE business is about, take a look at this five page preview of issue 1. Be warned, though, it’s not for the faint-hearted.

I’m also developing a new comic mini-series, which will be distributed on the PSP via Playstation Network, and via iTunes for the iPod, iPhone and iPad. More on that – along with some artwork – in the next couple of weeks.

As mentioned yesterday, I miscounted where we were in the countdown to blog post 250, so I said I was going to stick another post in so the countdown didn’t actually land us on post 249. I had planned just to chuck out any old rubbish about how I’d spent my Sunday (eating ice lollies and playing Frisbee, if you must know), but then I found something much, much more worthwhile to tell you about.

Jonny Duddle, the artists behind the Invisible Fiends covers, has recently started a blog of his own. One of his first posts is about the development of the Invisible Fiends ‘look’, and it includes some sneaky peeks at his first few attempts at the cover design.

It’s interesting stuff, and you’ll be able to see some more of Jonny’s fantastic artwork on the site, so don’t waste your time hanging about here reading about wasps an’ that – go check it out.

Jonny Duddle’s Mr Mumbles post.

Just a quickie to let you all know that over on TrappedByMonsters we’re running a competition to win a copy of William Hussey’s fantastic urban fantasy/horror novel, Witchfinder: Dawn of the Demontide.

To be in with a chance of winning, just scoot along here and answer a simple question. Dead easy.

By some incredible stroke of luck (and thanks in part to the corrupt, often violent campaign I’ve been running) I’ve secured enough nominations for BarryHutchison.com to make the final shortlist for the first ever Author Blog Awards competition. I’m even more delighted at the fact I’m on the shortlist with Neil Gaiman, my all-time writing hero.

Thanks to all of you who nominated the site. Your support and devotion has touched me in ways I have rarely been touched before. But now I must ask you to help me one more time. Just once. For old time’s sake.

I’d like you, dear reader, to vote for BarryHutchison.com as the overall winner of this year’s awards. It’s a simple process and shouldn’t take more than a minute of your time. To find out how to vote, and to stick your X in my box (*cough*), just click here.

Thanks!

Barry

Attention readers. BarryHutchison.com needs your help. For two years now it has been here, squatting over in the corner of the internet like a… like a… cow at a disco.

Man, that similie could have been planned better.

Anyway, I’ve been writing this here nonsense for two years, without ever asking anything in return. Except that you buy my books. And swear your undying loyalty to me. Now, though, I need your help. It won’t cost you anything, and it’s nothing illegal, so what have you got to lose?

I need you, dear reader (your hair looks great today, by the way) to click the image below (and nice shoes. Are they new?) and nominate BarryHutchison.com for the Author Blog Awards. You’ll most likely have to register an account to cast your vote, but it’s completely free and you will not be sent random spam.

That’s all there is to it. Click the link below, then click the “Click here to nominate” button on the new page. Register an account. Vote for BarryHutchison.com. Simple.

So, what do you say? Will you help me? My life, dear reader, is in your hands.

Well, not my life as such, but you know what I mean.

Just vote, OK?

Cheers!