Monster-Blood Tattoo & YouTube

Well, it has finally happened - a YouTube [TM] book trailer of MBT!

Made by the skillfully deft and technically versatile Courtney Wood over at Putnam (my US publisher). (A bit of trivia about Courtney; she set up this blog in the first place for me to go on with - if you go right back to the beginning of it all you will find a test post from her...)

I must say it is rather odd to see MBT out there in "That's what they - those other people do" computer land.

Also: for an extra bit of linkage fun here is a post about the panel I joined at the Sydney Writers' Fest. a couple of months ago, written by the most excellent Judith Ridge.

A refurbishing

A slight revamp of ol' Monster Blog Tattoo - as you can well see. What might have occasioned this you are probably NOT asking. Well, partly it is because I am a restless soul, but also I thought I might have a little graphical celebration at some good news.

Out of nowhere I recently learnt that MBT Book 1: Foundling has been short-listed for the 2008 Festival Awards for Literature (winner to be announced at Adelaide Writers’ Week in March). Huzzah!

Other titles in the Childrens Literature Shortlist include (from a total of 212 entries):

• Home by Narelle Oliver (Omnibus Books)
• Don’t Call Me Ishmael by Michael Gerard Bauer (Omnibus Books)
• Macbeth and Son by Jackie French (Angus & Robertson)
• Danny Allen Was Here by Phil Cummings (Pan Macmillan)
• The Worry Tree by Marianne Musgrove (Random House)

Good news for us all and too for those authors making it in the other categories. It also means that my ANZ publisher Omnibus Books (my original publishers) have three of their authors in the short-list, so huzzah!s all round I reckon.

Also there is a MySpace now for MBT. It has been set up by my US publishers, Putnam. Being a novice to MySpace (dare I admit it) I am not sure yet what we'll do with it all but I hope I'll see you there sometime soon.

So things small and some what larger are afoot.