Splinters!

It was nice to see my picture book on subway ads in Toronto all holiday season. SPLINTERS is on the top row!

cool!

The Purple Cow book store in Utah is doing a Neil Flambe celebration in January. Don't miss it!

Pope Stephen

Colbert's looking for a new portrait? Here ya go... no papal bull!

whodunit 2010

I referred to the OCAD whodunit fundraiser in an earlier post. The gala was held this weekend so here are the two anonymous pics I submitted.

What can I say. I like dragons and chefs!

Gordon and me (he said "call me Gordon")

Here's me looking a little shell shocked getting my picture with Gordon Ramsay. I wanted to give him copies of my Neil Flambe books (he'd read an advance copy and gave me the blurb GOOD FUN - only Ramsay F-word I could use on a kids book!) and some bookmarks I made for his children

I wasn't expecting the photo really. I would have worn platform shoes!

2010 linocut

Here's the rough sketch for this years CBC Sounds of the Season linocut print. I'll print about 300 or so.

Many people asked for an image that could hang all year on the wall - so an apple pie seems like something both festive and year-round.

Donate 100 (or more) and then email me with your address. I hope to start printing next week and mailing the week after that.

Links will be up on the cbc site soon.

wolfman

I haven't posted in a while as I've been busily trying to finish Neil Flambe #3 (first draft is now done). I did take some time this week to design a logo for my friend Sean's school. They held a contest to pick a mascot and then asked me to do the drawing. Behold the Westwood Wolf!

School visits

I love doing school visits and was recently at the Country Day School in King City.

Beautiful fall foliage outside and a chance to talk about my books to lots of students. I always try to end my chats with my patented 5-second cartooning class.

VIWF

I will post some pics tomorrow, but had a great day today at the Vancouver Writer's Festival with fellow author Shauntay Grant... she brought her own drums!

The launch for Don't Touch That Toad (kids can press) was a few days ago. Here's author Cathy Rondina and I cutting the celebratory cake. Yes, that's my illustration on the cake... it hurt to cut such a nice picture! (Usually I burn them...)

Here's me on TVOkids!

With Kara and Neil!

Doodles

I doodle all the time and always tell kids this is the best way to practise drawing. It's also where weird ideas happen with no pre-planning... so for some reason I drew Stephen Fry as a punk Jeeves and Hugh Laurie as a drug-addict (House?) Wooster.

Neil #2 has arrived!

Just got my box... wow.

Whodunit?

One of the great fundraisers for OCAD invited alumni (such as myself) and celebrities (maybe some day?) to donate works of anonymous art. Patrons pay 75 bucks and choose a piece they like and then find out whodunit. I've done 2 a year for about the past 5. I just finished this year's. The fronts have to remain secret, but here are the backs.

Splinters review #1!

Kirkus reviews has given Splinters a nice review! You need to subscribe to read the whole thing... but here's a sample.

"Sylvester's puckish (sorry) take on the Cinderella story is reflected in squiggly, exaggerated watercolor-and-ink pictures. Most of them float on the page as if on the ice, and this works wonderfully."

podcasts for Game Day

In an earlier post I mentioned that Annick had me in for a photoshoot and interview for Game Day (due out in the fall)

The podcasts are now up!

This one is a video!

The power of NPR

I was interviewed by the wonderful Liane Hansen on NPR's Weekend Edition this past Sunday. My book immediately jumped from 1,800,000 on amazon.com to the top 100!

This struck me as cool for a number of reasons. As a broadcaster (CBC Radio) it's interesting to see how much people connect with public radio. The book was immediately all over twitter, getting bought and sold on ebay... amazing. It helped that Liane liked the book as well.

It's also amazing as an author to realize that there are millions of titles out there every day that scream for attention. There's a huge amount of good luck and good timing that helps a book jump off the shelf. The book has stayed in the top 1000 for the week which is a good indication of steady sales and the people at Key Porter say series need a good stretch of time to take off. That was part of the rationale for getting #2 out there asap (look for it in September)

Now me and the Neil team have set our eyes on Rachael Ray. We think the book would be a good fit for her show. Stay tuned....

More good comments on Neil #1!

Another nice review!

portfolio

At work at home...

A nice feature on my house in the latest SUN newspapers. Look for it on p23 of the pdf.

Washington DC!

I'm in Washington DC this weekend for the big American Librarians Association Conference. I've been here many times before and did the whole White House, Mall, Connecticut Ave. stroll last night. Today and tomorrow I'll be signing copies of my book at the Convention Centre. Stupidly I forgot my camera, so no pics. In a nice bit of timing I noted the Library Journals LLC gave me a good review. It's posted on the Amazon.com website.

Recommended!

Recommended!

A nice review for Neil in the Canadian Children's Book Centre Book News.
You can't read it on-line but Gillian O'Reilly calls it humorous and fun!

Bestseller!

Neil #1 is right up there with some guy named Munch (Munsch?) and a scared little squirrel.

COOL!

another nice review!

"Super Cute"

Game Day

I just handed in the ms for Game Day.

I interviewed lots of great people "behind the scenes" in the world of sports. Scouts, anti-doping testers, baseball organists - and Jimmy "The Iceman" MacNeil. He was named the Best Zamboni driver in the world in a big contest a few years back. I went out to visit him at the Brantford Civic Centre and took this quick-pic of Jimmy and the ancient freezing equipment in the rink (all getting replaced soon.)

Look for the book in the Fall!

Another nice review

It's interesting to see your book go out into the world (like a child leaving for a life of her own) and meeting people who are complete strangers to you.

Nice when they like your book as well.

Jackie says she can't wait for Book #2... see below.

The Next Chapter

I've handed in Neil #2 - and here's a rough design of the cover.

And I had a nice little nod from Shelagh on The Next Chapter. It's not on the show list, for some reason, but it is the audio.

4-star review!

Thanks to Mary Thomas!

She writes......

Neil Flambé and the Marco Polo Murders is a giggle from beginning to end. Only food is taken seriously and that only by the chefs and the customers prepared to pay through the nose for a true gastronomic experience. The murders are outrageous, each shedding a new batch of red herrings with which to mislead the reader. It may be a bit sophisticated for your average teenager whose gastronomic heights are likely to be pizza and poutine, but any adult who picks it up will find chuckles and belly laughs on every page.

rejected album cover

This was a proposed CD cover for "20 pieces of music that changed the world" the great CBC series with Robert Harris (as Elvis) and Michael Enright (as Beethoven). Alas, didn't make the cut. They wanted photos! Can you believe it?

Back from Vancouver

Just got back from a nice gig in Vancouver, emceeing The Ice Age 2010 for The Hard Rubber Orchestra.

I also dropped by the great bookstore Kidsbooks and signed some copies of Neil #1 for them (it's sold 40 copies in three days there ... wow.)

publishers weekly!

A nice review for Neil today in Publishers Weekly

http://www.publishersweekly.com/article/452779-Children_s_Books.php

Come say hi tomorrow

I'll be at the Yonge-Eglinton Indigo store tomorrow!
2pm on the second floor.
Everyone who shows up gets an autograph or cartoon of some kind.

cheers!

the cat lady sings

hey goof looking

Here I am signing one of about ninety books. I also got a nice review in Publisher's Weekly and on a couple of blogs in the US. And I'm sold out on Amazon.ca! COOL!

thoroughly enjoyable

Thoroughly.

That was a nice day for a book launch.

About 100 people showed up! Mable's Fable's sold lots of books. I'll post some pics when I get them.

I even got some original artwork from some of the kids who came!

Cheers!

today's the day

more hero worship

And speaking of hero worship it was a bittersweet day saying goodbye to Andy Barrie this morning.

I loved doing the sports with Andy. This is a caricature I gave him (riding his Aussie Shepherd Wrigley)

hero worship

Interviewed Stephen Fry!

One of my absolute heroes.

Catch it on The Sunday Edition this Sunday!

revenge

And it's on bookshelves!

thanks to Sarah D for the pic!

Neil #1 has arrived!

Here's the disheveled author and his 10 copies!

LAUNCH PARTY!

award for Olympic work!

I have been the writer for the COC's Olympic Schools project, writing profiles of such amazing athletes as Clara Hughes (flag-bearer for the 2010 team).

We recently won a big award (from Coke of all people).

It's a good resource for school kids.

Canadian Living

Neil #1 is an editor's choice in the March issue of Canadian Living magazine!

Thomas Hardy

Steven Gettis collects caricatures of great literary figures and posts selections on his blog heyoscarwilde.com

Drawn.ca posted a link and I contacted Steven with some of my stuff and he liked it!

cat burgled

Neil's PR shot

I met with Key Porter sales reps before Christmas and prepped a shot of Neil, the kind he might send out to fans in a fan club. Each rep got a hand-signed Neil pic.

The Caterhorn

horror movies for cats

cats by the ocean, birds far from shore