BarryHutchison.com

It’s December 16th, which means I’m over half way through my 31 day blogging challenge. So far it has been easy to get something up here every day, but the real difficulties are going to start cropping up towards the end of the month, since that’s where all the action is.

It’s hard to believe there are only 9 days left until Christmas. I’ve been working flat out on a website today (to be revealed next week, all being well) so haven’t had a chance to get a proper blog posting organised. Come back tomorrow, though, when I’ll be talking about some of the fantastic presents that Santa never quite got around to bringing me back when I was but a boy.

Rather than completely waste this blog post, though, I’ll use it to remind you that the Invisible Fiends Group on Facebook is always on the lookout for new members. If you haven’t joined, scoot on over now and sign up.

Go on, then. I’m waiting.

There was probably a time, many years ago, when the people behind Amazon cared about books. Maybe they were passionate about reading, champions of the written word on a mission to spread books to every corner of the globe.

If that was indeed the case, it’s safe to say their mission has long-since been forgotten, in favour of making as much money as humanly possible.

Now, I’m not saying making money is a bad thing by any means, and anyone who helps get books into the hands of readers – Amazon included – are to be praised as loudly and as often as possible. All I’m saying is when I go to Amazon I don’t get that feeling that I’m at a site run by proper hardcore book lovers. It has become just a big online superstore which happens to have books as one of its many (and ever-increasing) product lines.

When I go to the website of my favourite online bookseller, though, it’s a different story. The site is LoveReading4Kids and it has been created by people who clearly do indeed love reading.

As soon as you go to the site you’re greeted by this message:

Reading is fundamental to the development of children and countless research shows the links between good reading skills from an early age and future success in life. However, finding books children want to read or authors that excite them, can be difficult; the choice is daunting and guidance rather thin on the ground.

So, Lovereading4kids has been created to be the ultimate children’s online independent bookstore. It has been created using the experience we have as parents and book lovers, who want our children to read great books.

Now, isn’t that much nicer than “Here are some recommendations for you”, followed by a huge list of products you might be tempted to chuck some of your hard-earned money at?

Take a look at the About Us page, and tell me that one page alone isn’t enough to make you fall in love with the site. The people behind the site (displayed for us all to admire and appreciate on that page) have brought that small indie bookshop ethos to the internet, providing a service far beyond anything Amazon can.

With over 5,000 opening extracts to look through, you almost feel like your casually browsing the shelves of a bookshop. And you can also be safe in the knowledge that any book listed as a featured title has been read and enjoyed by at least one of the team. Unlike on other sites where the featured books are whatever they happen to want to get sold, at LoveReading4Kids the quality of the book is everything, and a recommendation on there is a vouch for a book’s quality.

As if all this isn’t enough of a reason to do all your online book shopping there, LoveReading4Kids also guarantees at least 25% off the RRP of the books they sell, so bargain-spotters should be happy, too.

So go on – don’t hang around here. Get over to LoveReading4Kids.co.uk and see what they’re recommending this week.

Earlier this year I posted this entry about a chap I considered at the time to be without question the most irritating human being alive. His name is Mitchel Musso, and in the video I posted he was performing his own gut-churningly awful version of the song “Lean on Me” as featured in the Disney movie Snow Buddies.

Notice that I say “at the time”.

Tonight I was subjected to the special features on the DVD of yet another churned-out movie in the apparently never-ending Buddies saga. This one comes from Santa Buddies and features a performance from another non-gender specific … um … thing called Steve Rushton.

I can’t quite decide which of the two is the most creepy and irritating, so I thought I’d throw it open to you, the blog-reading public in an X-Factor style vote-off. Imagine for a moment that you are Louis Walsh. Actually, no, that’s too hideous to even contemplate. Imagine you’re Danni Minogue. The bottom two acts have been named and shamed – Mitchel Musso and Steve Rushton – and it’s time for you to settle down, watch both performances, then decide which act is staying in the competition, and which is going home.

Use the comments section below to vote out the most irritating of the two acts. But before that, brace yourself. You are about to enter Hell…

Time for a bit of self-promotion, I reckon.

Chances are, if you’re reading this blog you’re in some way interested in me or my books. That’s great news. I’m dead chuffed about that, so I am.

And if you are interested in finding out more about me or INVISIBLE FIENDS here are some of the places you’ll want to considering trying:

Twitter
I don’t use Twitter all that much, but I do occasionally post snippets of whatever book I happen to be working on at the time. I’ll sometimes drop clues about what happens in upcoming books, too, so if that sounds like your kind of thing, find me at Twitter.com/barryhutchison and follow me.

Facebook
Like about 95% of the world’s population, I’m on Facebook. Again, I don’t use it for a huge amount, but you can sometimes find me on there posting about events, workshops and the like. Or just flinging insults at Philip Ardagh. Either way, you can find me at: Facebook.com/invisiblefiends

Facebook 2
Also on Facebook you’ll find a group dedicated to Invisible Fiends. I haven’t done much with it yet, but as the books start coming out I’ll be updating it frequently. Join the group now by clicking here.

Trapped By Monsters
Aside from this blog, TBM is where you’ll find me most often online, blogging away with seven fantastic other authors. There are posts covering everything from favourite comics to writing lessons, with plenty of short stories, poems and other creative stuff chucked in. You can also marvel at the artwork of the brilliant David Melling. So what are you waiting for? Head to the caves now.

And that’s about it. I have a MySpace account, I think, but I never use it, so there’s no point checking there. I also have a YouTube channel, but everything I upload to it I post on here, too.

If you’re on Twitter or Facebook, please do add me so you can keep up to date with everything INVISIBLE FIENDS. Once the books are published I’ll be running giveaways on both those sites, so signing up now will give you the best chance to hear about them before too many other people.

And that’s yer lot, blog-wise for tonight. I was going to do some writing now, but it’s getting late and my bed is calling. Tomorrow, though. Tomorrow I’ll definitely get some writing done.

Or maybe Monday. Tuesday at the latest.

I’ve been following the saga of bookshop chain, Borders, for the past year or so. During that time it seems to have lurched from one crisis to another, and now – according to this article on theBookseller.com – the end could be dangerously close for the troubled store.

Now I am and always will be a fierce supporter of independent bookshops, but the death of any place that supplies books to readers is a tragedy, whether the supplier be a small, family-run shop, or a vast chain of megastores. To me, the book is the important thing, and how those books are supplied is a secondary – if still important – consideration.

Yes, in an ideal world all books would be bought and sold at a thriving network of local, indie bookshops. Every town would have its own shop, staffed by book lovers who could make honest, personal recommendations, and who knew their products better than anyone.

But it’s not an ideal world. I live nearly 100 miles from my nearest indie bookshop, and 50 miles from my nearest chain bookstore – a Waterstone’s. I have a small WH Smith with a tiny book section in my town, but that – aside from an excellent little second-hand bookshop – is it.

While I’d love to have an independently run store near me to be loyal to, I don’t, so my choices are buying online, or making a 100 mile round trip to purchase a book. Most of the time I’ll buy online, but whenever I visit the closest city to me, Inverness – about 70 miles away – the Waterstone’s and Borders shops will always be my first port of call. I’ll always come away with at least one book. Usually I’ll leave with several.

Both shops are staffed by some of the most helpful and knowledgeable bookshop staff I’ve ever met, and I can be sure of getting great service when I walk into either one. To think that one of these shops may soon be a thing of the past is an unhappy thought, and I for one will miss Borders if it goes.

Of course, the demise of Borders (if it does actually happen) may well provide a massive boost for indie bookshops across the country, which is no bad thing. But for me, and tens of thousands like me who have limited or no access to other bookshops, the death of Borders will be a sad day indeed, and will lead to even more book spending being done online instead of on the High Street.

Over on Trapped By Monsters I’ve posted a lovely desktop wallpaper featuring the equally lovely Mr Mumbles. I’ll post it here when I get a chance, but currently a bit snowed under with work (not that I’m complaining).

If you want to make your computer desktop look all Invisible Fiendsy, head on over to TBM now.

Over at Mr Ripley’s Enchanted Books, his ‘Book Cover Wars’ competition has entered its third week. Each week, he posts four book covers and invites readers to vote for their favourite.  This week sees Mr Mumbles put in an appearance, and he’s up against some very strong competition.

To see the four competing covers and cast your vote for your favourite, scoot along to this page right here.

An early review for Mr Mumbles, the first book in the Invisible Fiends series, has now popped up online. I’m delighted to report that it’s a good one, so scoot along here to read it for yourself.

I paid a visit to Lochyside Primary School near Fort William today and had a fantastic time.  Too exhausted from jumping about like a maniac and talking non-stop about children’s books to write a full report on the day, but I’ll do one soon.

I’ve never tried video blogging before, but have decided to give it a go. I’d love anyone’s comments – unless those comments are “get a haircut, have a shave, and lose three stone, fatso”.

So, here it is. Brace yourselves.

Waterstones are the latest online retailer to get in on the Mr Mumbles pre-ordering act, with the book now available on their site.  Both Waterstones and Amazon have already knocked 20% off the RRP, and are offering the book at £4.79.

You can see it on the Waterstones site – along with a countdown in days until the books is published – by clicking here.