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Not long until the Battle for Earth

Posted in Battle for Earth, Book news, Influences with tags , , , on August 14, 2011 by keithmansfield

Thanks to everyone for their patience and enthusiasm for the third book in Johnny’s (and Clara’s) adventures. If you live in Europe, Johnny Mackintosh: Battle for Earth publishes on Thursday 1st September 2011.

If you’re in North America you may have to wait a little longer. I was just in Canada where the pub date was being announced as 1st December 2011 and it’s the same in the United States. Perhaps I’ll combine a Christmas shopping trip to New York with a book launch?

If you want to pre-order the book (or buy any of the earlier ones) click on the three covers together to go to the buy the books page or support your local bookshop by going in and ordering direct.

In the run up to publication I’ll be publishing a series of posts about the influences on Johnny Mackintosh and tweeting about the new book using the #JMB4E hashtag. And I do plan to have a London launch but I’ve been so busy it’s not likely to happen until late September or early October. Watch this space!

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Cover preview of Johnny Mackintosh: Battle for Earth

Posted in Battle for Earth, Book news with tags , , , , , on January 3, 2011 by keithmansfield

Here’s a sneak preview of what you have to look forward to later in 2011:

I’ve been lucky to have had three absolutely fabulous cover designs so far, each striking but different. They all have their strengths, but what this one does is tie the story to Earth in the here and now, which is always something I’ve been very keen on. When books are branded “science fiction” it can suggest “a long time ago in a galaxy faraway” and immediately exclude 95% of your potential audience. Of course I love the genre, but have always tried to write for a general readership.

I do like that bold, slanted text, which I’ve not seen on other books. Perhaps, as word of Johnny Mackintosh spreads, we’ll be able to re-cover all the books so they match and we can establish a series identity.

Happy New Year!

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Timeslip Tuesday Review from America

Posted in Book news, New York, reviews with tags , , , , , , , , , on January 2, 2011 by keithmansfield

Some of my favourite stories include the possibility of time travel. From Hermione’s time turner to Clare Abshire being forever left behind, it’s a theme that can lead to engrossing books. So it was exciting to discover a whole review section of Charlotte’s Library (a book site for kids and teenagers) called Timeslip Tuesdays.

For the weekly feature, Charlotte’s reviewed Johnny Mackintosh and the Spirit of London. As far as I know, it’s the very first US review of Johnny’s books and hope it paves the way for more to come. Having lived in the US (I spent some time growing up in Erie, Pennsylvania) and travelling there often for work, it’s a country I’m especially fond of and I hope New York readers of Johnny Mackintosh: Star Blaze will vouch for the accuracy of Johnny’s escape through the city.

Readers of this blog will know that there was recently a review of Star Blaze from Australia. For an author, it’s an amazing treat to discover people in other countries reading your stories. I’ve also seen reviews from South Africa and heard of people seeing the books on the shelves in Singapore! Sadly, world domination still seems some way off, but it’s good to know that the books are slowly percolating around the globe.

Charlotte’s timeslip review says:

“Lots of action, twists and turns of plot, and a generous dollop of suspense make for a page-turning adventure that is, I think, just the ticket for a sci fi loving upper middle grade reader (and the sort of book an adult reader who’s willing to suspend disbelief and who’s looking for something fun should appreciate as well). The story is told strictly from Johnny’s point of view, so the reader only knows what he does, keeping things very interesting indeed.

“… I’ll be passing this one right over to my ten-year old, and I bet he enjoys it (space ships! computers! aliens! dinosaurs! sinister bad guys!).

“Time travel-wise–the journey of Johnny and Clara back in time leads to interesting sub-plots and intriguing explorations of paradox. It’s a key part of the plot, in a very sci-fi way (as opposed to time-travel for the sake of exploring the past, or for the sake of exploring characters). And as such it works well, adding zest and excitement to a story already full of both.”

For those who want to read more about time travel, take a look at my Science of Johnny Mackintosh page.

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Concorde Book Award – Part I

Posted in Book news on September 19, 2010 by keithmansfield

I’m delighted to report I’ve had to update the Prizes and Awards page following the news that Johnny Mackintosh and the Spirit of London has been shortlisted for the 2011 Concorde Book Award. Thanks to everyone who put the book forward. Hopefully there’ll be good news in a future post entitled “Concorde Book Award – Part II”.

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Waterstones Camden recommends Johnny

Posted in Book news, Bookshops with tags , , on July 3, 2010 by keithmansfield

One of the lovely staff at Waterstones Camden has recommended Johnny Mackintosh and the Spirit of London. In case you can’t make out the photograph, the card reads:

“THIS BOOK MAKES ME FEEL like I want my own talking computer. Johnny’s computer Kovac detects an extraterrestrial life form and so begins Johnny’s adventure. Full of energy and great characters.”

Thanks to my friend Anna for sending me the picture.

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Here come the reviews

Posted in Book news, reviews with tags , , , , , , , , , , , on January 21, 2010 by keithmansfield

Naturally, authors never read reviews. It’s purely an accident I have a Google alert set up to tell me when anyone, anywhere writes something about Johnny Mackintosh. It would be madness to pay too much attention as there are bound to be people who don’t like a book – happily, though, this has been a sane week and people have had only lovely things to say about both Johnny Mackintosh: Star Blaze and also Johnny Mackintosh and the Spirit of London.

The Bookbag has given Star Blaze a whopping five stars and said such nice things that I’m reluctant to repeat them here. Well, go on – you twisted my arm. Their reviewer, Jason Mark Curley, liked Johnny Mackintosh and the Spirit of London except its title and made my year by saying it was “reminiscent of Rowling”, my writing idol. This one he seems to have enjoyed even more.

“it must be hard to write a sequel to a book that was so good and get it right … I enjoyed the first book so much that I didn’t want to spoil it by reading a duffer of a follow up. I really shouldn’t have worried; Star Blaze is everything that its predecessor was and a lot more besides … shades and echoes of those sci-fi novels I used to read as a kid: Asimov, Clarke, Moorcock and Dick. … great characters, action, mystery and adventure … A great read; go get it. And, more please Mr Mansfield.”

I am blushing as I type and will gladly buy anyone claiming to be Jason a beer should they approach me in a pub. Earlier in the week, the Bridgend County Council posted some user reviews of books in their libraries and the second one they showed was Johnnny Mackintosh and the Spirit of London. A young reviewer by the name of Master Dylan James Morgan wrote:

“Awesome! The book cover just makes you want to pick it up straight away because it is so colorful and looks exciting. Flying around in a spaceship disguised as the London Gherkin! WOW!!! This is the first Johnny Mackintosh Book and I hope there will be more to come.”

I hope Master Morgan discovers Johnny Mackintosh: Star Blaze soon!

The first Star Blaze review of the week was from the lovely people at Chicklish. Even though I’d love everyone to read Spirit of London first, I’m delighted Alexandra picked up that you could read the second book independently and still enjoy it as I worked very hard on that. She’s also given a great short summary:

“In Star Blaze, Johnny becomes involved in a deadly plot against the Earth’s sun. Exploding the sun into a supernova should be impossible but intergalactic enemies have found a way. Only Johnny and his sister appear to know what’s happening. Can they save the day? … You can read this novel without having to read the first in the series. Definitely a hit for sci-fi fans.”

Chicklish is a great site run by authors Luisa Plaja and Keris Stainton.

If you like either of the Johnny Mackintosh books, it really helps spread the word if you post reviews online, with Amazon of course being particularly visible. If you hurry, you can be first up for Star Blaze!

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Johnny Mackintosh: Star Blaze is published

Posted in Book news, star blaze with tags , , , , , , , on January 7, 2010 by keithmansfield

I hope this is the moment you’ve all been waiting for. The second Johnny Mackintosh book has arrived. I’m very proud of Johnny Mackintosh: Star Blaze and enormously grateful to everyone who’s helped make this day possible. The cover copy reads:

Alien invaders have exploded a nearby star, turning it into a supernova, and only Johnny Mackintosh knows the Sun is next in line. Abandoning school and his football team, he and sister Clara travel to the galactic capital seeking help. Their mission stalls. After a decade missing, Johnny’s mysterious brother reappears, but what was he doing all those years away and whose side is he on?

So begins an epic adventure full of devious aliens intent on ruling the galaxy and killing Johnny along the way. Can he survive to save his brother, and planet Earth, in time?

Keith Mansfield’s explosive space adventure will wow fans of action stories and Star Wars.

If you want more of a taster, you can check out this site’s excerpts section which includes the opening page. The book’s published and should be in all good bookshops (snow permitting). Bookstores are having a precarious existence at the moment (witnessed by the demise of Borders), so it would be great if you popped into your local local to pick up a copy. If they don’t have stock, demand to know why not and ask them to order it. But, if you can’t wait, here are some links to buy online.

Star Blaze cover

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Prizes for Johnny Mackintosh

Posted in Book news, Website news with tags , , , , on January 6, 2010 by keithmansfield

I’m delighted to announce Johnny Mackintosh and the Spirit of London is one of twenty titles longlisted for the New Horizons Book Prize. It’s even led me to set up a new (currently rather small) page on JohnnyMackintosh.com called “Prizes and Awards”. It would be lovely if it grew quickly. You can read a little more information about this over at my other blog.

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An interview with BFKbooks

Posted in Book news, Interviews, reviews, Website news with tags , , , , on January 5, 2010 by keithmansfield

There’s a page on this site called “What other people say about Johnny Mackintosh” which is where I began listing reviews, but now realize I’ve been very lax about updating it. In particular, I’ve only just added a review and link to an interview that I did a while ago for BFKbooks.

I loved the interview – Jayne asked some great questions – and she wrote some very kind things about Johnny Mackintosh and the Spirit of London. I hope she enjoys Johnny Mackintosh: Star Blaze just as much.

BFKbooks is a great site to raise awareness about adults with autism. I’ve been interested in the subject ever since I edited a book by Simon Baron-Cohen (yes he is related to Ali G) and Patrick Bolton called Autism: the Facts. We’re used to acknowledging that there are children with autism and recognizing the difficulties they must sometimes face, but of course those children grow up. I hope some of you are able to visit their pages.

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Johnny Mackintosh på galaktisk evertyr

Posted in Book news, Norwegian edition with tags , , , , , on December 5, 2009 by keithmansfield

Det er 64,874,261 år etter den galaktiske standardtiden I det ytre rom, og 13 år gamie Johnny er langt borte fra barnehjemmet han por på.

I love Scandinavia. I’ve been fortunate, over the years, to have travelled there many times and made lots of friends along the way. They have the northern lights, look like Vikings and brought the world both Ibsen and ABBA. As if it couldn’t get any better, Johnny Mackintosh and the Spirit of London has just been published in Norwegian.

It’s a tremendous thrill for an author to see their book in another language, especially having met some of the lovely people at Cappelen Damm who’ve made this all possible, Johnny Mackintosh på galaktisk evertyr now sits proudly on my bookshelf alongside the Dutch edition, Johnny Mackintosh en de supersnelle augurk (published by Prometheus), and I hope others will soon follow.

Maybe one day there’ll even be a translation into Universal, “the standard language for inter-species communication across the Milky Way”?

For Norwegian visitors, the back cover copy reads:

Hvorfor har ikke Johnny fått vite sannheten om foreldrene sine?

Hvem er de onde maktene som overvåker ham?

Da merkelige ting begynner å skje, rømmer Johnny fra barnehjemmet han bor på og prøver å finne søsteren sin. Det er da han kommer i hendene på utenomjordiske. Johnny blir kidnappet og sendt ut i verdensrommet. For å komme til bunns i hvem han egentlig er, er han nødt til å prøve å rømme.

Et utrolig eventyr gjennom tid og rom med den ultimate helten, Johnny Mackintosh.

I wrote a short piece about visiting Oslo last year over at my Keith Mansfield website. At this time of year, I want to say a very special God Jul to all my Norwegian readers. If you’re stuck for present ideas…

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