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Hello America

Fever Crumb, the prequel to the four Mortal Engines books, will be published in the U.S. by Scholastic in April 2010, with a very fine cover by the illustrator Sam Weber. It's already picked up three starred reviews: School Library Journal calls it 'A must for any fantasy collection', Kirkus Reviews says that it's 'an essential read for fans and a great entry point for newcomers...' and Publishers' Weekly thinks that it's 'beautifully written, grippingly paced, and filled with eccentric characters and bizarre inventions... a novel guaranteed to please Reeve's fans - and very likely broaden their ranks.'

If you go to the Mortal Engines section of this website you'll find an unpublished excerpt from Fever Crumb, which has been up on my blog for a while, but now moves to a permanent home here.

I'm delighted to report that at some point Scholastic will also be publishing new U.S. editions of the original Mortal Engines books.

A Web of Air

The latest Mortal Engines book A Web of Air should be appearing in bookshops in the UK just about... now. It follows Fever's travels after she leaves London aboard a traveling theatre at the end of Fever Crumb, and most of it takes place in the island city of Mayda, which is probably the single nicest place anywhere in the world of Mortal Engines, although that's not saying much, and it still has more than it's share of mad sea-cultists, assassins, spies, shady goings on and mutant seagulls. A Web of Air comes in two different editions; there's a 'collector's' hardback, which features David Wyatt's beautiful painting of Mayda, and also a large format paperback which comes in a black cover with words made out of planks and a picture of a ghostly flying piranha fish - I can't remember quite where one of those fits in, but I'm assured it looks jolly striking.

The Blog......is proving lots of fun to write, so please check there for regular updates on the books and on anything else that happens to cross my mind. Recent posts include a Lego traction city, the amazing fan-powered Tolkein movie Born of Hope, some thoughts on Avatar, and an explanation as to why I'm spending so much of my time these days crouched on the floor, marshaling tiny Romans around a Mat-o-War...

www.philipreeve.blogspot.com

Facebook

Some kind soul directed me to a Facebook page called ‘Mortal Engines is a Work of Genius’

on which a bunch of highly intelligent, discerning and frankly gorgeous people discuss the World of Mortal Engines. Among it’s many delights is this painting by Christian Bravery, who sounds like a character out of Pilgrim’s Progress but is in fact a very talented conceptual designer and painter. You can see more of his work on his website, www.leadinglightdesign.com

Young Anna Fang?

I’ve been talking to David Wyatt about the possibility of doing a comic book set in the WOME (or World of Mortal Engines). Whether it will be written, or finished, or published, it’s far too early to say, but it’s an interesting idea to kick around while I tinker with the final details of A Web of Air and wait to start my next proper book. David suggested that the young Anna Fang would be a good character to focus a story on, and I agree. If you’ve ever wondered what Anna looked like in her younger days, here’s one of David’s sample drawings...

MORE MURDEROUS MATHS.

Kjartan Poskitt, scarf wearer of the year and author of the Urgum the Axeman books, has asked me to illustrate another of his wildly murderous and mathematical Murderous Maths books; Easy Questions, Evil Answers will be published next year, and I'm looking forward to dusting off my pens and trying to remember how to draw the lovely Veronica Gumfloss, scheming Prof Fiendish and those evil intergalactic kidney beans the Gollarks. Don't miss Poskitt's fancy website, www.murderousmaths.co.uk and spare a thought for www.ithinkoldgreekmathsgeeksarewellcoolanddon'tcare

whoknowsitactually.mm.org.

Meanwhile, here's a picture of a recent visitor to Dartmoor.

Mortal Engines – Special Collector’s Edition

This September Scholastic has published an exclusive collector’s edition of Mortal Engines. It comes in a slipcase featuring the brilliant new cover artwork by David Wyatt, and also includes a selection of doodles and working drawings from my Mortal Engines sketchbook. There are only 3000 copies, and with the aid of a lot of hard-working helpers at Scholastic I’ve signed every single one of them. It’s a snip at just £30.

NEW BOOK OUT NOW - No Such Thing As Dragons

No Such Thing as Dragons is my new, stand-alone novel, and for the first time I’ve done my own illustrations (Mr Wyatt was too busy). Set in the middle ages, the book tells the story of Ansel, a boy who becomes apprentice to a traveller named Brock. Brock calls himself a dragon slayer, and makes his living from the superstitious inhabitants of mountain villages by claiming he can rid them of the dragons which they believe lurk on the heights. But when Brock and Ansel arrive at a lonely village called Knochen they discover that there really is something living on the mountain above, and that it’s hungry…

Read more about No Such Thing As Dragons

Fever Crumb Sequel

I’ve just completed a first draft of Fever’s next adventure, which will be called A Web of Air, and is to be published next spring. Watch this space for further details.

NEWS

Welcome to my official site. Please have a look around and find out extra snippets about me, my books and illustrations. Hope you find it interesting.

If you would like to buy any of my books you can follow the links in the Books section. Where you will also find more information on each title.

2002 Nestlé Smarties Book Prize (Gold Award) (9-11 Years category) Mortal Engines

2002 Whitbread Children's Book Award (shortlist) Mortal Engines

2003 Blue Peter Book Award: The Book I Couldn't Put Down (shortlist) Mortal Engines

2004 WH Smith People's Choice Award (shortlist) Predator's Gold

2006 Guardian Children's Fiction Prize A Darkling Plain

2007 Booktrust Teenage Prize (shortlist) Here Lies Arthur

2008 Carnegie Medal Here Lies Arthur

Scholastic and Philip

This way to my blog.