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Today I'm really pleased to announce that the wonderful Firefly Press will be publishing my new kids' book. It's a science fiction adventure called 'Lost on Mars' and it'll be out in May 2015. Here's more details from the F...

We're delighted to announce we will be publishing Lost on MarsÌý²ú²âÌýPaul Magrs in May 2015. Paul is a fantastic author of many books for adults, children and young adults, including Strange Boy, ExchangeÌý²¹²Ô»åÌýDiary of a Dr Who Addict.  (As he is such an addict, and has written five Dr Who novels for BBC books and over twenty original Dr Who audiobooks/dramas, it's also lovely to have the announcement the week we're celebrating Peter Capaldi's new Doctor!)Lost on Mars is the story of Lora and her family, human settlers on the red planet, as they struggle to survive against terrible odds and is the beginning of a epic series. 'I wanted to write a grand science fiction epic set on another planet, about human beings surviving in incredible new circumstances and encountering mysterious and fascinating new ideas,' says Paul. 'It's a kind of blend of the best elements of classic children's fiction, such as Laura Ingalls Wilder's Little House books, and Golden Age space operas such as Ray Bradbury's The Martian Chronicles.'

Paul said about his inspiration for the book: ‘With my Mars series I want to write a grand science fiction epic set on another planet, about human beings surviving in incredible new circumstances and encountering mysterious and fascinating new ideas. I also want it to be a family story, full of great characters that we come to care for and identify with as they embark on a quest that will take them into the heart of the mystery of the planet Mars.�

I've read roundabout a hundred books so far this year. I'm hoping to get my blog going again soon, after the summer break. But in the meantime - in no particular order - here's my top ten novels of the year so far:We Are All Completely Beside Ourselves � Karen Joy Fowler
The Fault in our Stars � John Green
Fan Girl � Rainbow Rowell
The Goldfinch � Donna Tartt
The Collected Works of A.J Fikry � Gabrielle Levin
The Storyteller � Jodi Picoult
One Night in Italy – Lucy Diamond
The Unpredictable Consequences of Love – Jill Mansell
Doctor Who : Engines of War – George Mann
IQ84 (Books 1 & 2) � Haruki Murakami

Think back � who, in your opinion, is the best Brenda villain or monster?
My top five would be:
5) Karla Sorenson � polymorphously perverse vintage film starlet who unleashed all kinds of chaos with her remake of ‘Get Thee Inside Me, Satan� in ‘Hell’s Belles� (2009)
4) Goomba the Bamboo Deity from the Dawn of Time in ‘Something Borrowed� (2007) Was he wicked or just horribly misunderstood? His brooding presence resided in a set of garden furniture in Sheila Manchu’s beer garden and he ended up enslaving almost all of Whitby as the dreadful Wickerwork Man.
3) Kristoff Alucard. He was washed up on the shore of Whitby in the 1890s and no one’s been able to get rid of him since. Effie’s some-time beau and a bit too dapper for his own good. Brenda wouldn’t trust him as far as she could chuck him, and perhaps she was right.
2) Mrs Claus. The grotesque old bag who rules the Christmas Hotel and makes it forever Yule. She starts out in the series as an out-and-out horror, but maybe she redeems herself by the end, when certain revelations are unwrapped?
1) For me number one has to be Mr Danby � that most persistent of villains. Whether it’s a Deadly Boutique or a muck-raking late night chat show, or a bookshop housing a celestial gateway into the wicked land of Qab � this oleaginous fiend keeps coming up with crackpot schemes designed to suck the life essence out of our two leading ladies. Is he and his dessicated Mother Superior (whom he carries about in a suitcase) still at large? And will we ever find out?
Let me know if I’ve missed anyone even more horrible out�!

Also - there's now a ! Do pop along and join!

I've just finished proof-reading Fester's book (and cried at the end again, even though I was sure I wasn't going to.) With this rereading, it's really seeming as if he's about to go his way into the world, and from now on he's not just going to be *our* little cat.