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January 21, 2007
Dreamworks
Things are looking better on the movie getting made. Watch this space.
Posted by pbkerr at 11:59 AM | Comments (0)
January 06, 2007
Pronunciation
Djinn is pronounced like the drink. Gin. And remember, it's got to be Gordon's. That's a gin and a djoke. In that order.
Posted by pbkerr at 05:06 PM | Comments (0)
January 04, 2007
No cigar
In 2006, after the competition I set in which I asked people to guess my middle name - no one did - I thought I'd try you out writing book reviews of the Blue Djinn of Babylon. The results were okay but none of these really impressed me enough to warrant sending anyone a selection of the top selling childrens' books on amazon.com. My fault. I should have suggested something else. Something easier perhaps, such as drawing characters from the books, in which case the winnerwould, without question, have been Isadora Cassab from Australia. She excelled herself in sending me a beautifully drawn poster featuring a number of scenes and characters from the books. So I've decided to send her a prize instead. And I'm going to try to devise a better competition for 2007. So watch this space.
Posted by pbkerr at 01:56 PM | Comments (0)
January 03, 2007
Autobiographical ramblings
I was born in Edinburgh, Scotland in 1956. We were poor but it was happy childhood. My parents were both Scottish and so, it seemed, was I. I left Scotland to live in England when I was about fifteen. And since then I've felt a little less Scottish than before. The Scots don't like the English very much which is a bit sad as the English have nothing against the Scots. My wife is English. Very. She's descended from the fifth wife of Henry VIII. My children are half English, of course. So it bugs me when Scots start with the anti-English thing. To my mind the Scots have been a usefully calming influence on the naturally volatile Scots. Tha's my story.
My mother was a Brodie. The Brodies are one of the oldest clans in Scotland. They are Picts. They lived on the north side of the Roman wall built to keep the Scots out of Roman territory. The Picts are a dark swarthy lot. True Scots. Not like the red-haired freckled Jonny come lately Scots who are descended from Vikings. Alexander Brodie was King of Scotland in about 500 AD. I say all this because when I was at school, I used to get a bit of racism thrown my way because I was dark skinned. This might strike you all as incredible but I know what it is to be called the N word. But that's the Scots for you. A funny lot.
We were a religious family. My family were Baptists. Often we went to church three times on a Sunday. Morning service, sunday school in the afternoon, and then evening service. On Sundays we lived in the place. A lot of the people who went to that church are still my friends. They have good hearts. But I no longer believe what they believe.
When I left school I read Law at university. Twice. I did a postgraduate degree in Jurisprudence. Which is Philosophy of Law.Then I became a copywriter in an ad agency. I wasn't much good at it. I spent a lot of time staring out of my office window or simply writing novels.
I got my first book published in 1989, by which time I was 33 years old. Given that I had started writing when I was about ten, this only goes to show that I wrote stories and books pretty solidly for twenty three years with no success at all. Never made a penny. I always say that these days I get paid to do my hobby. Which is true happiness, let me tell you.
Today I live in Wimbledon. I have three children. I play the piano and the guitar. Take lots of photographs of almost anything, and have two motorbikes. I got to Cornwall a lot. I also write thrillers and detective stories for adults as Philip Kerr. Check 'em out on Amazon.com when you're a bit older.
Posted by pbkerr at 09:56 AM | Comments (0)
Welcome to 2007
Hello to all my readers. Hello anyway even if you're not a reader.
First of all let me explain my absence from this blog. I was finishing Book Four. Didn't I say? This series started out as a trilogy and then it sort of turned into a quintet, and maybe there will be more than that, who knows? I never could understand why J.K.Rowling stated there would be exactly seven books. Not that I'm criticising her for a moment. But from where I sit I really have no idea where and how the story of the Children of the Lamp will end. That's what makes it interesting to me. I don't think I could carry on writing if I already knew the end like JKR does with Harry P. But then all authors are different. Anyway, like I was saying when I interrupted myself, I didn't blog on this website for almost three months because I was hard at work finishing the fourth book in the series. It will be published in September 2007. Book 3, The Cobra King of Kathmandu is just coming out if you live in the USA. If you live elsewhere in the world you probably know it's out already.
I was saying something about me not knowing what's going to happen in the end. That might strike you as surprising, an author not knowing how a series will turn out. But sometimes the process of writing feels almost magical. It's like the hand holding the pen has a life of it's own. I catch sight of it sometimes, scribbling away and think to myself, hmm, well it seems to know what it's doing, best let it alone. Books quickly take on a life of their own, you see. It's never a good idea to force them in a direction they don't want to go.
As always if you want me to correspond with you, it's best to email me direct rather than leave a post on this blog. I'm more conscientious answering my emails than I am editing blogs AS I'M SURE YOU ALL HAVE NOTICED. My email address is pbk@pbkerr.com.
Posted by pbkerr at 09:42 AM | Comments (0)