tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-88115252384483436512023-11-15T10:14:46.814-08:00The Mad Misadventures of Emmaline and RubberbonesConcerning the series of books for Discerning Young Persons, featuring the young aviatrix Emmaline, her friend Rubberbones, and their multitudinous madcap misadventures.
Also starring Her Royal Highness Princess Purnah of ChiligritHoward Whitehousehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02302365981307587479noreply@blogger.comBlogger15125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8811525238448343651.post-63164961585143027612009-01-27T08:48:00.000-08:002009-01-27T08:53:33.676-08:00More Young Minds to Mould ----- into brilliant writers!<br /><br />I've started a new series of creative writing classes for youngsters at New City Library. Normally I keep it 4th-6th grades, but my most regular attendee, Susan is now in the 7th, and has a couple of friends of the same age. The youngest is member is actually in the third grade, so she's very young - but clearly extremely bright and talented. Ten budding writers, boys and girls.<br /><br />They all say they'll do the homework, even though there are no grades. We'll see!<br /><br />I really enjoy teaching these kids. They are so talented.<br /><br />Well, some of them are, anyway (!)Howard Whitehousehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02302365981307587479noreply@blogger.com17tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8811525238448343651.post-23966791167384369602009-01-24T05:55:00.000-08:002009-01-24T06:03:42.887-08:00Things is a poppin'!For a couple of months it seemed that nothing much was happening with my writing.<br /><br />I finished what I think is a very funny YA novel in collaboration with a young woman from my church youth group, meeting once a week over her mom's kitchen table to just make up storyline and typing it up later. We began a follow up, but she's been very busy, and we haven't returned to our weekly sit-downs.<br /><br />I've begun a middle grade (probably 9-11 ages) story called, tentatively, "Zombie Hunters of the Fifth Grade". But I haven't got very far yet.<br /><br />But this week I A) received a contract, at last, for "Bogbrush the Barbarian" (another very silly book) and was asked by KCP for a proposal for a non-fiction book about Robin Hood. Indeed, that would be part of a possible series about historical (or, in this case, semi-historical) figures.<br /><br />And on Monday I start teaching creative writing for kids once again.<br /><br />Good stuff!Howard Whitehousehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02302365981307587479noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8811525238448343651.post-19808750527941967902008-11-19T08:07:00.000-08:002008-11-19T08:13:01.112-08:00Teaching comedy!I'm three weeks into teaching a five session course at a local library. We decided to call it 'Comedy for Kids', although I suppose that one writes 'humour' rather than 'comedy'. But who cares?<br /><br />I have four middle graders. One girl is a regular at my courses, and is very talented. Her story involves a giant inflatable shark called Melvin, and his search for stolen fish sticks. It's pretty darn good for a twelve year old!<br /><br />The others aren't quite as advanced. One boy is a sports nut, and seems a bit lost when it comes to actually adding real humour to his writing. But, hey, he's nine. When I was nine I wasn't a great talent either.<br /><br />OK, I know what you were about to say -----<br /><br />Anyway, it's huge fun, and I'm glad to be teaching the next generation. And giving them homeweork as well.Howard Whitehousehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02302365981307587479noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8811525238448343651.post-49387823683499896252008-11-13T14:57:00.000-08:002008-11-13T15:12:09.422-08:00The Island of Mad Scientists ---- continues to get really good reviews.<br /><br />Here's one: <a href="http://medinger.wordpress.com/2008/08/04/the-mad-misadventures-of-emmaline-and-rubberbones/">http://medinger.wordpress.com/2008/08/04/the-mad-misadventures-of-emmaline-and-rubberbones/</a><br /><br />another here:<a href="http://melissasbookreviews.blogspot.com/search?updated-max=2008-11-10T06%3A24%3A00-06%3A00&max-results=5">http://melissasbookreviews.blogspot.com/search?updated-max=2008-11-10T06%3A24%3A00-06%3A00&max-results=5</a><br /><br /><br />This is great, since I think it's my best book yet.<br /><br />Of course, even if I thought it was a pedestrian effort, barely adequate at best, I'd still want the great reviews :)<br /><br />What I really want is for lots of actual kids to enjoy it. I'd like them to buy it, of course, since I have to buy groceries like everyone else, but I didn't start writing for kids so I could buy a Rools Royce.<br /><br />Dam' lucky really for me, thenm since I am stilll driving the dented Mazda ---Howard Whitehousehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02302365981307587479noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8811525238448343651.post-75361479047646739762008-10-18T20:36:00.000-07:002008-10-18T20:46:08.220-07:00Standing up in front of a stone wallI've grown used to giving presentations for groups of kids, and generally they go well. I ham it up, ask questions, read bits of my books, answer questions.<br /><br />Usually the organisers have to drag me off the stage. At the very least, they hold up a hand telling me that I have two (or three, or five) more minutes.<br /><br />I love it. It's like stirring up anarchy.<br /><br />This week, though, I did a presentation for a mixed, largely unconnected group of educators. It was a tough audience. They didn't respond to the obvious 'funny bits'. They had no questions. I had to poke at them to answer mine. After a while they warmed up a little, and a couple even admitted using hmour in a classroom setting. It was -- okay. But for a good while I felt like a stand up comic working a room on a wet Tuesday at a Holiday Inn in Vidalia, Ga.<br /><br />I did sell a few books, though. Onward and upward!<br /><br />Another children's author had been first to address the crowd (I hadn't arrived yet, so I missed her presentation). She came up and congratulated me on looking so relaxed in front of this very tough audience. That was very nice of her, and maybe I am able to appear confident and at ease. But, really, I'd like to connect with the audience. And this group were tough to connect with!Howard Whitehousehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02302365981307587479noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8811525238448343651.post-84620425123598823252008-10-10T19:35:00.000-07:002008-10-10T19:42:34.874-07:00Something new!So far I've written only about the Emmaline and Rubberbones stuff. But It's worth mentioning that, since I am a Renaissance Man (which means I don't bathe and get into knife fights with bad poets) that my next creation from KCP will, in fact, be "Bogbrush the Barbarian", a fantasy romp about a barbarian hero so utterly stupid that, er, all the other barbarian heroes notice. It's as if Conan the Barbarian was bigger, dimmer, and his creator made fun of him constantly.<br /><br />I think the target audience is ten year old boys, juvenile delinquents and my own friends.<br /><br />I've had to make it a little more kid-friendly, or rather, delete anything too risque. Which is a shame, as the ladies find Bogbrush strangely appealing, in the "I like 'em big and stupid" range of taste. of course, Bogbrush fails to comprehend any of this. British readers will remember the classic (that means 'old and bad') Carry On films for the 50s - 70s. Bogbrush is a fantasy version of that style.<br /><br />Bill Slavin will illustrate it.Howard Whitehousehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02302365981307587479noreply@blogger.com215tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8811525238448343651.post-43343051332692763882008-10-08T17:28:00.000-07:002008-10-08T17:31:56.565-07:00Out among the fifth graders --"The Island of Mad Scientists" is out in the US as of Oct 1st, and I've been to scenic Rockport, Massachusetts to read bits of my books, sign copies and generally ham it up to audiences of middle graders, their families and some unsuspecting adults.<br /><br />It was enormous fun.<br /><br />There's something about getting a roomful of eleven year olds to laugh uproariously. It's just fantastic. You can't buy it.Howard Whitehousehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02302365981307587479noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8811525238448343651.post-22164865030408976862008-09-01T13:41:00.000-07:002008-09-01T13:44:44.060-07:00Bloggers and supposed to blog ------ and I fail to do so for months on end. What a loser!!<br /><br />"The Island of Mad Scientists" is now out, sort of. I think the official date is Sept 1 in Canada and Oct 1 in the US. but I may have this wrong. Either way, when I was in Toronto last week there were copies in the shops, and I signed them. It's amazing how people in repsonsible positions (i.e. book store clerks) will accept my claim that I am, in fact, this "Howard Whitehouse" who has his name on three books on their shelves.<br /><br />I thought of asking if I could sign the Tom Clancy novels next, but I didn't ----Howard Whitehousehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02302365981307587479noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8811525238448343651.post-37100474184457600372008-06-26T18:09:00.000-07:002008-06-26T18:11:50.456-07:00My best work yet!My wife says that "The Island of Mad Scientists" is the best yet of my Emmaline and Rubberbones books. This may be true - after all, after three books I may be approaching a level of basic competence.<br /><br />Then again, it may be because there's a tortoiseshell cat in it. A <em>heroic </em>tortie cat.Howard Whitehousehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02302365981307587479noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8811525238448343651.post-16773651449669838752008-06-25T07:17:00.000-07:002008-06-25T07:21:50.739-07:00The Island of Mad Scientists!My wife never reads my stuff before it's published. That's fine, as I don't read hers in advance either (and never in the case of her PhD dissertation, fine piece of work that I am certain that it is). But now - since we have ONE copy - she's reading "The Island of Mad Scientists" - and gives it a thumbs up (so far - it may take a sudden lurch towards mediocrity).<br /><br />There's a seance scene in it that I think is the funniest thing I have yet written.Howard Whitehousehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02302365981307587479noreply@blogger.com49tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8811525238448343651.post-19809674514212246802008-06-24T16:25:00.001-07:002008-06-24T16:27:23.609-07:00I found this blog ---- and it's mine, dammit!<br /><br />I just haven't actually done anything with it since, er, a very long time.<br /><br />The next book, "The Island of Mad Scientists" is out in August. I received the first advance copy and it looks great. It has a map of Britain in it and everything - although it features places that don't actually exist.<br /><br />I promise to write more from now on.<br /><br />Well, I could hardly write less!Howard Whitehousehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02302365981307587479noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8811525238448343651.post-70008664475792820772007-09-16T20:39:00.000-07:002007-09-16T20:48:21.556-07:00The musketeers all have cell phonesI took the church youth group to the New York Renaissance Fair today; it seemed the right thing to do, and the kids wanted to bring friends, so ten of us crammed into my co-leader's van and drove to the RenFair's permanent site in Tuxedo.<br /><br />The thing about a RenFair is that it isn't a historical re-enactment of any sort, or even really a coherent excercise in fantasy, but simply a chance for geeks to dress up and eat funnel cakes. Oh, and buy stuff. Oh, and get their hair braided and faces painted. The level of historical accuracy makes 'Braveheart' seem like Clarendon's History of the Great Rebellion.<br /><br />My writing cohort Devon was looking out for inspirational material for our joint project, "Seven Kinds of Awesome". That and a new fake fur tail. This is the sort of fine retail merchandise you can find there.<br /><br />There's a drinking game that you can play at the RenFair. Every time you see someone in costume using a cell phone, drink a shot. An imaginary one in this case. I'd have been legless by four o'clock.<br /><br />Good fun, prithee sirrah forsooth etc etc --Howard Whitehousehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02302365981307587479noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8811525238448343651.post-65378026422345234682007-09-15T20:52:00.000-07:002007-09-15T20:57:48.436-07:00Editing makes my brain rot!It does, it does --<br /><br />I have taken the next book, "The Island of Mad Scientists" first draft from 71,000 words down to a shade over 59,000. A chunk of the bits taken out will return, in slightly modified form. That's to get the whole thing to 63-65,000 words, which fits within the publisher's budget for production. Basically, the original is too long not for artistic reasons (hoot! guffaw!) but because it costs too much to have the extra pages. Practical stuff, which I understand.<br /><br />Still, re-wording sentences to lose a couple of words here and there again and again is hard work. Not ditch-digging hard work, but still ---Howard Whitehousehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02302365981307587479noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8811525238448343651.post-35428940608113554132007-09-09T21:19:00.001-07:002007-09-09T21:20:43.642-07:00A really smart reviewHere's a review from Zubon, who makes 'The Faceless Fiend" sound very deep and complex.<br /><br />I wish I really was deep and complex.<br /><br /><a href="http://zbooks.blogspot.com/2007/09/faceless-fiend-by-howard-whitehouse.html">http://zbooks.blogspot.com/2007/09/faceless-fiend-by-howard-whitehouse.html</a>Howard Whitehousehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02302365981307587479noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8811525238448343651.post-74648718786592940402007-09-09T17:33:00.000-07:002007-09-09T17:38:46.062-07:00The Faceless Fiend!My new book, 'The Faceless Fiend' has been released. This is the second in the series, which began with 'The Strictest School in the World'.<br /><br />I had a very nice review from Kirkus (which is absurdly prestigious and often a bit, ah, mean) so I'll put some of it here. I hope they don't mind:<br /><br />"Along with offering a leading candidate for Year's Best Title, this rousing sequel to The Strictest School in the World (2006) pits the wonderfully motley household of Mad Aunt Lucy Butterworth against not only the villainous girls'-school Headmistress from last time, but a new crew of thugs led by a sinister secret agent whose face has been blown off. Centered on exiled young Princess Purnah of Chiligrit, a small country strategically located on the borders of India, Tibet, Russia and Norway, the action consists almost entirely of sudden attacks, chases, kidnappings, escapes and rescues, with breaks for tea and cakes, as the characters move from the Yorkshire countryside to Victorian London. Given to stunningly bloodthirsty remarks ("In Chiligrit, stranglings is everyday-goings-on. Also other murderings, and kidnappings and daily thievings of sheep and goats. I miss it very much."), Purnah is just one of several memorable characters here, all coming to life both in the narrative and in Slavin's usually hilarious drawings. With help from Sherlock ("I thought you were imaginary!") Holmes himself and a variety of early aeronautical devices, the baddies ultimately get it in the neck—literally in one case, though not decisively enough to rule out more installments. Bring them on. (Fiction. 11-13)"<br /><br />Well, actually, that's all of it. But, heck, I'm not one for false modesty.Howard Whitehousehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02302365981307587479noreply@blogger.com0