I think this is one of the best covers of the series so far – and the book itself is packed with action, plot twists and rather smelly troll droppings…

Tommy

You can read the full article here: http://www.publishersweekly.com/article/CA6705497.html?nid=2788&rid=1959776788&source=title

Let’s hope Scream Street continues to be  a popular read among American kids!

Tommy

I couldn’t have had a better time, with three action-packed school events and getting to spend time in the Scotia Books warehouse, from where some of the best books available are dispatched worldwide with, frankly, frightening efficiency!  Plus, these guys really know how to look after an author (fellow children’s writers – you will NOT regret getting in touch with these people!)

Schools I’ve already visited will know that I use Scotia Books to deliver copies of Scream Street to my events for pupils to buy and have signed – but I recommend them to anyone who needs anything from a single book to an entire Accelerated Reader library, and prefers to use an experienced, friendly independent supplier over a faceless chain of superstores.

You can contact Scotia Books on 01236 826041 or by emailing info@scotiaandchameleon.com Chances are, you’ll probably find me back up there having a cup of tea or planning another curry!

Tommy

Find out more at: http://www.watchthemgrow.co.uk/quest.html

Tommy

Renaissance Learning are running a Quest with each challenge set by a children’s author – and this month, it’s me!  All you have to do is imagine that you wake up one day to discover you’ve turned into a vampire.  How would you react?  What would you do?  And how far would you stay from the garlic in the supermarket?

I want you to write a story of at least 150 words telling me what you would do (you can of course write more than that – and include pictures, too).  When all the entries are in, I’ll choose a winner and make that person a character in a future Scream Street book.

So, if you’ve ever wanted to see your name in print – click here and try The Quest!

Tommy

Scream Street 7: Invasion of the Normals
Scream Street 8: Attack of the Trolls
Scream Street 9: Terror of the Nightwatchman
Scream Street 10: Rampage of the Goblins
Scream Street 11: Hunger of the Yeti
Scream Street 12: Secret of the Changeling
Scream Street 13: Flame of the Dragon

Any thoughts?

Tommy

To celebrate the spookiest night of the year, here’s a brand new Scream Street short story – ‘Trick AND Treat’ – written exclusively for The Times newspaper.  Don’t have nightmares…

Trick AND Treat

A SCREAM STREET short story by Tommy Donbavand

“Come on!” cried Luke Watson, pulling the hood of his makeshift ghost costume over his head and bounding up the path to number 18 Scream Street.  “It’ll be fun – I promise!”

Resus Negative licked his fangs nervously and exchanged a worried glance with their mummy friend, Cleo Farr.  Wasn’t it bad enough that they were having to wander the streets in fancy dress without Luke getting all overexcited?  “We’re not sure about this,” he said, itching at the spot on his neck where Luke had insisted on taping fake Frankenstein bolts.

Cleo dragged off her gorgon wig and straightened the bandages over her scalp.  “It’s just not the way we do things around here,” she agreed.  “Tonight’s more of a stay at home with the family kind of night.”

Luke sighed.  Who would have imagined, now he lived among real vampires, phantoms and mummies, that Halloween would be so, well… boring?  He’d pictured skeletons dancing while witches brewed up steaming potions and zombies burst out of their graves – but the most exciting thing he’d seen all night was a bat with a half-deflated balloon tied to its leg.

“Suit yourselves!” he grumbled.  “All the more for me!”  Spinning round, he rapped on the buckled wooden door and struck what he hoped was a spooky pose.

Limping footsteps approached along the hallway inside.  Clump, swick.  Clump, swick.  Clump, swick. Heavy bolts were drawn back and the door opened with an agonised creak.  “Yes, dear?” enquired the wrinkled face that peered out of the darkness.  A thick tongue slavered over toothless gums.  “What do you want?”

“Trick or treat!” beamed Luke from beneath his white bed sheet.  He held out his pumpkin pail and added a ghoulish ‘Wooh!’ for good measure.

“Trick or treat?” mused the old woman.  “Now, there’s a choice…”  Then, without warning, she grasped a handful of hair, ripped her head from her shoulders and dumped it in the bucket.

Sticky, red liquid spurted over Luke and he backed away, pulling the soaking bed sheet from his face in horror.  It was a moment before he realised it was nothing more than raspberry sauce.

Peering down into the plastic container, he found gobstopper eyes blinking up at him from beneath a mop of candyfloss hair.  A stump of white, marshmallow spine protruded from the neck, wrapped in red liquorice veins.

“Never been a fan of choices myself,” cackled the confectionary head.  “So why not have both?!”

THE END

This month, you can read an exclusive short story, learn all about a new book by yours truly and finally discover the titles of the remaining books in the Scream Street series!

What a scream!

Tommy

So, here’s how I did it…

Tommy

—

How I Got Published by Tommy Donbavand

One of the questions I’m asked most often (aside from ‘what are you doing in my garden?’) is how I got published.  What’s more interesting than the question itself, however, is the belief and/or hope that there is some sort of magic formula or shortcut that I have found and can give the questioner to stop them having to do it the hard way.

Guess what?  There is no magic formula.  You have to do it the hard way.

I started writing while still at school, eschewing the teenage norm of hanging out on street corners to sit at home and practice my art.  Thankfully, I hit the library (no Internet back then…) and knew enough about how books were made not to submit my first ever attempts (although I did send some sketches out to Spitting Image, Stephen Fry and Ben Elton, getting very kind ‘keep it up’ letters in return).

After college I made the obvious career move – and became a clown called Wobblebottom (no, really).  I worked first at holiday centres around the UK and later on cruise liners, entertaining children.

A few years later I joined the cast of a musical in London’s West End – Buddy: The Buddy Holly Story – and even that was down to one-part perseverance and two-parts metal balls.  I went to see the show with my parents, spotted a part I thought I’d be good at and wrote to the producer that night, claiming I would be a much better choice than the current guy.  That landed me the audition – but, when I got there, they asked me to read for a different role.  I knew I would only have this chance once in my life and so I stopped halfway through and told them they should let me audition for the character I wanted.  They did, I got the part, and stayed with the show for the next eight years.

While in Buddy, I continued writing and continued being rejected.  Neither agents nor publishers were interested in the fiction I had to offer.  So, I turned to the old phrase ‘write what you know’ and put together all the games and activities I’d created and developed during my work as a children’s entertainer.  I pitched the book far and wide and, soon after, Quick Fixes For Bored Kids was published by How To Books in the UK.

Three other books – More Quick Fixes For Bored Kids, Quick Fixes For Kids’ Parties and Boredom Busters – followed.  Before long I was running events in book shops and being interviewed on both local and national radio as an expert in keeping kids entertained.  It wasn’t what I wanted to write, but it was a foot in the door, nonetheless.

Then the door closed over my foot.

Buddy ended, I left London, and the events dried up.  The books weren’t selling very well at all – partly because parents who buy books telling them how to keep their kids from being bored don’t generally have the type of kids that get bored – and partly because the publisher insisted on classifying the books as ‘parenting’ titles, instead of ‘activities’.  I would often go into book shops and find my work far away from the children’s section, sandwiched instead between toilet training guides and books of baby names.

I worked for a few months on a computer tech support line, then auditioned for a role in a small-scale children’s show visiting schools over Christmas.  I did the tour, and stayed with the production company afterwards in order to write their next shows – for next to no money at all.  But hey, at least I was writing again.  I often found myself playing a part in show ‘A’ while writing show ‘B’.  It was exhausting.

I was still writing fiction in what little spare time I had, sending off my work to publishers and agents, and amassing an impressive collection of rejection letters in return.  Apparently, my four previous books (now rapidly dropping out of print) counted for nothing.  I was back on the outside, forcing my work into the bottom of the slush pile.

I began to teach writing to adults in the evenings and set up a web forum to enable people in the classes to stay in touch.  Before long, an established writer posted on the board saying that Egmont Press was looking for writers-for-hire for a new children’s horror series, but that only writers with published fiction to their name need apply.  It was steel balls time again…

I called the editor and convinced her to let me write a sample chapter.  I was successful and soon chosen as the first author for the Too Ghoul For School series, eventually writing five titles for the range.  I was paid a one-off fee for each book, and no royalties – and it wasn’t even my name on the cover – but it was published fiction, and a step in the right direction.

My school events continued apace and I soon spotted an ad looking for a new writer-in-residence at Seven Stories, the UK’s centre for children’s books, based in Newcastle-Upon-Tyne.  I applied and got the gig, ready to spend the next 12 months running workshops and writing exclusive material for visitors.

It was time to take a leap of faith so, in September 2006, on the day my son was born – I quit my job at the theatre company and became a full-time writer.  I started writing to agents again, pretty much to deaf ears until one of them suggested I contact Penny Holroyde at Caroline Sheldon Literary Agency.  I sent her my latest manuscript – a comedy space adventure for kids – and waited for her response.

Penny asked me to come to London for a meeting and explained that the book wasn’t what she was looking for, but asked if I was working on anything else.  I pitched an idea I had for a comedy horror series of my own and she liked it.  I signed with the agency and settled down to write what would become the first title in my Scream Street series.

I worked for almost six months on refining the manuscript and redrafting until it was in good enough shape to submit.  Penny’s notes were invaluable and, eventually, the series was picked up by Walker Books for publication in the UK from October 2008 onwards.

Now the hard work really began and, with my new editor Emma, I got stuck in to writing the series while doing as many school events as I could.  Part way into book three, I had an idea for a ’second’ Scream Street series and, whipping out the metal orbs again, I pitched it to Walker at their annual sales conference.  The six book series was now doubled to 12 instalments (later upped again to 13 so I could drop a longer ‘hinge’ book between the two sets of adventures).

My regular school visits paid off when I was approached by Reading Is Fundamental (part of the UK’s National Literacy Trust) and asked to become the first RIF Ambassador, attached to a primary school in Middlesbrough and charged with the task of getting the pupils into reading and writing.  It was a great experience – and the school even initiated the ‘Tommy Donbavand Writing Hero’ award!

In January this year, I contacted seven other UK children’s authors with the plan of setting up a joint website through which we could promote books and ’share’ readers.  The premise is that we were on our way to write the ultimate anthology of monster stories – when the monsters got to us first!  Now held captive in dark, damp caves, we’re made to blog about great kids books in return for food and toilet paper!  Trapped by Monsters can be found at http://www.trappedbymonsters.com

Scream Street began to sell to other countries around the world, including Australia, Italy, Sweden and Japan.  In August 2008, the series was launched in the US, published by Candlewick Press.

So, that’s where I am today.  I’m busy putting the final touches to the 10^th book in the Scream Street series, and have added events at literary festivals to those I still run in schools.  I’ve written two novels for Barrington Stoke, a publisher specialising in books for dyslexic and reluctant readers, and have just been asked for a third.  I’ve even been invited to the Houses of Parliament at the end of this month to discuss getting kids excited about reading.

I’m not sitting on my laurels, however.  I work hard at promoting my books online through websites, guest blog posts and Twitter – and the old steel balls are always polished and ready to use, should the need ever arise…