Meddling Freebies #3: Teen Sleuth Rules

An idea for a series of badges: the rules of teen detective fiction (mild spoilers: all of them are struck out in Meddling Kids). These never went past the Photoshop stage.

By the way, if you don't own your MK copy yet, or want to own an extraordinarily dirty one, Doubleday is throwing a holiday giveaway of signed books! Signed, doodled and pencil-colored by an author with very little real work to do. Follow @doubledaybooks on Instagram for a chance to win now! The girls will be given away today, and the boys are on their way!

Meddling Freebies #2: Bookmarks

I designed these as giveaways at conventions when we were pitching swag for MK. I have shared the front pictures before: the foreground kids are mine, whereas the silhouetted adults were drawn by artist Jordi March, who was also the photographer for the story on the Pennaquick Telegraph in the book.

Each model included a different quote from the depicted character on the back.

A fifth bookmark contains the rules for Word Bluff, the official Blyton Summer Detective Club car trip game. Try it at home!

Meddling Freebies #1: Meddling Comic!

In the week before Halloween, Meddling Kids has gone into its sixth reprint. And I'm as happy as an author whose novel has gone into its sixth reprint. (Yeah, guess what: without my editor I am incapable of creating metaphors.)

To celebrate the spoopy reads season, I thought I'd share some of the promotional material I made. I posted glimpses of this comic while in the making, but never the whole thing. This was supposed to accompany the early copies of MK that are sent to distributors and booksellers, as a way to introduce the book and myself to them. Although it says I'm a cartoonist there on the side column, and it's true, I don't draw comics these days, and even when I used to publish them in El Jueves full pages were not that common. This is far from perfect, but I'm happy with parts of it. It's spoiler-free, but those who have read MK will notice some inside jokes. Enjoy!

So Many Damn Books!

I went to visit these kids in Park Slope to record an episode of their booky podcast, and they were excellent hosts. We talked teen detectives, adult criminals, what Enid Blyton and H.P. Lovecraft had in common (it's not good), and they invited me to a signature cocktail (that was really good, as you can tell by my dangerous lack of inhibition toward the end). You can listen to it on iTunes or livestream or on their own website.

Or you can try the cocktail at home.

Event Alert: New York Comic Con!

Me: Oh my God there's a Comic Con in NYC and no one told me? I want to go!

My publicist: Edgar, I told you about it weeks ago--you're signing books and giving out merchandising on Friday, 10/6 at 3pm, and on Saturday, 10/7 at 11am.

Me: You're making me work during the Comic Con?


- Friday, October 6th, 3pm. Satuday, October 7, 11am.

- Javits Center. 655 W 34th St, New York, NY 10001

- Tickets & info 

Event Alert: 9/5 Astoria Bookshop

My first public event in the US!  I'll be reading, signing, and doodling over books in the Astoria Bookshop in Queens, NY. You should come over! I need to look at my own hands to draw hands! I can't pronounce the words I write! Hilarity is guaranteed!

- Tuesday, September 5th, 7pm.
- The Astoria Bookshop:31-29 31st Street, Queens, NY (N and W trains). 
- See you there!

In the last two weeks...

...Things have happened. Here is a brief recap of the events.

Photo: @bnschaumburg

• Meddling Kids was released on July 11. And judging by my editor's overuse of allcaps and exclamation points in his emails, I'd say there are reasons for satisfaction. It is now in its second reprint and it got among the top 25 sellers on Amazon in the first weekend.
• Early reviewers, bookstagrammers, booksellers' recommendations, and media mentions have played a great part in this. Especially influential was a review on npr that has set a new standard for positive criticism. To all, thank you.
• I was happy to be ordered two posts for Unbound Worlds and Read It Forward on the process of writing MK. I also had a conversation with Nick Spacek for Cinepunx, and there are more interviews to come soon.
• EDITED: As of today, MK is also a New York Times Bestseller. Jinkies and jeepers and zoinks and, well, holy f*ck.
  
• And I live in New York now. :)

I really should stop posting about Meddling Kids now

But it's really one of those days where I could just sit F5-ing my socials and I'd be really happy. On behalf of the Blyton Summer F*cking Detective Club, thanks for the welcome!

Meddling Kids: On sale today!

Meddling Mythbusting

I wrote an article on Unbound Worlds about my meticulous writing process. It's really edifying, in a "How not to write horror books" kind of way:

The very first scene of Meddling Kids recounts a nightmare just like the one I had the morning after the book was greenlit. The dreamer, Kerri, wakes up in a dismal apartment that was inspired by my hotel room in Manhattan from three nights before. And Kerri’s dog is a Weimaraner because, while in New York, I couldn’t stop thinking of a woman back in Barcelona who owns a Weimaraner. [Continue reading.]

You can read the full article here. Meanwhile, I'll be signing copies of MK for other dogs I love. Many projects on the way, big changes, much excitement.

Meddling Unboxing

ME, an author with a vast lexicon and excelling ability to express my emotions:  Ah!  Ah!  AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH

So, yup.  Here they are.  Care for a sample?  Why not from the just-finished audio-book version narrated by the enchanting Kyla Garcia?  Well stop daydreaming about it, listen to her NOW!




Meddling Kids. Coming July 10th. Or was it 11th? Definitely not the 12th. Pre-order.

Meddling Tunes: Sing It Like Self-Promoting Authors Before Us Sang

The setting is one early readers of Meddling Kids will recognize: the boys' ward in the loony bin in Arkham (but the scene doesn't necessarily fit in the novel's timeline). The lead singer is Old Acker and backing vocals are provided by the other patients (Ethan, Craig, Adam, Kimrean). The tune is It's Easy M'Kay, from South Park: Bigger, Longer, and Uncut.


And these are the lyrics:


Well, I used to be like you guys,
Raving about conspiracies and whatnot,
But why settle with that earthly yak,
When you can just gaze up
And see the abyss stare back?

Think about it, check out all the space out there.
What are the real odds we're alone or we ever were?
We're a nubile blue world caught between cosmic gangs
Coveted by tentacled colossi with fangs,
Sing it like twisted ancient cultists before us sang,
Cthulhu fhtagn!

First off, just relinquish your god--
You're a random flitting lifeform on a flimsy space pod.
Now ask, as you look into the past,
Were we humans the first rulers, and why should we be the last?
Step three, see the evidence and weep,
All the manuscripts talking of lost cities in the deep!
Go on, read the Necronomicon,
and find about the names that over ancient Earth rang
and sing along, Cthulhu Fhtagn!

Think about it, check out all the space out there.
What are the real odds we're alone or we ever were?
We are flowers in the battlefield of yin and the yang,
Innocent birdies caught in their sturm und drang,
Sing it like crazy liberal artists before us sang,
Cthulhu fhtagn!

First off, just relinquish your god--
You're a random flitting lifeform on a flimsy space pod.
Now ask, as you look into the past,
Were we humans the first rulers, and why should we be the last?
Step three, see the evidence and weep
All the manuscripts talking of lost cities in the deep!
Go on, read the Necronomicon,
Cause ph'nglui mglw'nafh R'lyeh fhtagn!
Ph'nglui mglw'nafh R'lyeh fhtagn!
Ph'nglui mglw'nafh,
Ph'nglui mglw'nafh,
Yeah!

We are hit-or-miss byproducts of the mighty big bang,
'bout to be devoured by the monsters that sprang,
Sing it like virgin horror writers before us sang,
Cthulhu Fhtagn!
Cthulhu Fhtagn!
Cthulhu Fhtaaaaa--
--aaaaa--
--aaAAH--
--aaagn!


Meddling Kids. Coming July 10th. Pre-order.

Meddling Peeks

"I mean, there happened to be a guy in a mask there, and we captured him. But there was something else going on in that house."

This beautiful piece of art is the work of artist Jordi March, a fellow contributor to El Jueves magazine. Those are the meddling kids, the Blyton Summer Detective Club, in 1977.

What happened next will shock you.

Meddling Kids. Coming July 10th. Pre-order.

Punch

Source: refinery29

This makes me ridiculously happy.

America is divided. But it's funny how from where I'm watching, far away, everybody and everything that ever caught my attention and admiration stands on the same side: the good one.

Incoming kids

Meddling Kids has an official release date: July 11. I read that on the Internet, so it must be true.

And there's more: you can already pre-order it.

Better yet: you can pre-order the AUDIOBOOK. Can you believe that? Somebody (not Siri—actually somebody) is gonna read my sh*t aloud. And record it.

I am misplacing my manure, I tell you.