And as part of my Godfatherdom, I have thought up a unique christening present…
…A few years ago, after returning from our trip around Oz and New Zealand, I wrote a children’s book called A World of Night. It was my first stab at kid’s fiction (even as a child I tried writing adult fiction), and to be honest I don’t think it worked out too badly at all. It was a book packed with adventure, intrigue, colourful characters, more monsters than you could cram into a canteen in Mos Eisley, and was filled with good ol’ fashioned fun and humour. Everyone who read it, including children, loved it, and I suppose - of all the books I’ve written - this has been the most fun.
But ask anyone who has tried publishing kid’s fiction, and they’ll tell you it’s a complete nightmare even getting an agent for it these days, let alone persuading the great and the good to take a gamble on you (your chances of being published apparently diminish further if you are writing children’s books). So after a few disheartening replies to submissions, I bottled it, and put the whole thing on the shelf, thinking it was a great diversion, but perhaps not the direction I should be going…
Last week was the first time in three years that I’ve picked up A World of Night, and I dusted it down and read it again. The reason for this was simple: this is my gift to my goddaughter, Isabella. She’s obviously too young to read at the moment (being only a few months old), but hopefully one day she’ll get that chance, and perhaps by then I might have had a few more
books published too! I’m having it bound simply (designing a simple cover – see right) and presented in an antique wooden box for safe-keeping, so that it should survive the rigours of time until her mum or dad can sit down and read it to her. I hope it will be a good christening gift. It will certainly be unique.But not surprisingly, going back to A World of Night has got me thinking.
Sarah, my wife, has been a strong advocate of the book and has always said A World of Night deserved publication. I think secretly, she prefers A World of Night over The Secret War – and one day I might bow to reason and present it to a publisher - should they let me through the door. So whether or not A World of Night sees publication… who knows? Like most of the books I’ve written, it was created with passion and commitment, with no real idea whether it was commercial or not. But publishing is a funny old game, and it may yet see print – afterall, if you asked me a few years ago whether or not I thought The Secret War would get published, I would have smiled sadly, lamented on the rejections and the dodgy agents, before changing the subject.
Funny how things can change so quickly…
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