Tuesday, April 05, 2005

Boys longing for "action" fiction

I have been brainstorming with a librarian friend for a student who wants books with lots of action. In the Sunday Times, author, Charles Higson offers his take on this reading interest. Higson is author of Silverfin, the first book in a new series about a young James Bond.

Why aren’t more thrillers being written for kids? When you look at the types of films and computer games the average 12-year-old boy enjoys — action, explosions, car chases and fights . . . lots of fights — it seems crazy. Go into any bookshop, and the children’s books shelves are groaning under the weight of either fantasy books about dragons, wizards and goblins or Jacqueline Wilson-style mundane reality. I long to see at least one cover showing two big muscly guys pounding the crap out of each other while a building explodes in the background.

The Independent had another article on this topic. It is "in the air" now. I am looking for Silver Fin and Jimmy Coates: Killer at TLA this week.
Next month sees the publication of Jimmy Coates: Killer, the hotly tipped first novel by a young Cambridge philosophy student, Joseph Craig, who admits to being a fan of movies like The Bourne Identity.

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

Hi!
"Jimmy Coates: Killer" will be published in America early June as "Jimmy Coates:Assasin?". For more info on UK book, please look at the website www.jimmycoates.co.uk
Hope you love the book!

Camille said...

I missed the last ARC at the HarperColins booth at TLA by about 5 minutes. The rep said I could email her and request one. I hope I get my copy soon!!!

Anonymous said...

Enjoy!

While you're waiting for the book, try visiting the official UK website
www.jimmycoates.co.uk

Joe said...

Hello! I'm the author of 'Jimmy Coates: Killer' (or 'Jimmy Coates: Assassin?' as it will be called in the US).
I hope you managed to get hold of a copy of my book. If you did, I'd love to hear what you think! You can email me on joe@joecraig.co.uk.