Match Wits with the Kids

It's not that long until fifteen and sixteen year-olds up and down the country we be embarking upon their GCSE examinations. And if you're a parent of such a prospective examinee, what can you do to help?

Well you could do a lot worse than pick up a copy of Match Wits with the Kids to refresh your own knowledge of subjects such as English, Maths, Science, History, Geography, Modern Languages and even the Classics. But don't just take my word for it, check out David Marx's review over at his blog.

Here's a highlight:

If, as parents, you sometimes find yourselves climbing the collective walls of turmoil in search of something to entertain and calm the kids – especially during those elongated weekends that are filled with rain, tedium and nothing particularly groovy on telly – then this could well be the perfect book for you.

Match Wit with the Kids is, as it says on the front cover: ‘’a little learning for all the family.’’ Indeed, it’s one of those books that immediately grabs the attention of even the most innocent and innocuous by bystanders. It’s akin to a pub quiz, only more geared towards that which we all learnt at school...

Jonathan Green has compiled a more than compelling and magnetic wealth of interesting facts, figures and knowledge.

As such, Match Wits with the Kids is a book that’s as engaging as it is fun as it is imperative throughout those aforementioned weekends and really long, giddy car journeys.

The Ultimate Christmas Quiz at the UCS Beyond Words Festival 2009

Well I survived the What is Myrrh Anyway? Ultimate Christmas Quiz experience at the UCS Beyond Words Festival and sold a few more books, which is always nice. It just remains for me to thank Martin Hitchcock and his able assistants Sophia, Katie, Hal and Ian, for all their help and for making me feel so welcome, and Najma of Icon Books for arranging the session.

The new Fighting Fantasy editions

From the offices of Icon Books this morning...


Mine's the one quite clearly visible at the bottom of the pile.

New Match Wits quizzes available for download!

I am very pleased to announce that Icon Books have posted a series of brand new quizzes for Match Wits with the Kids on their website.

To access this entirely free, downloadable material, simply click on the appropriate link below.

ENGLISH

MATHS

BIOLOGY

CHEMISTRY

PHYSICS

HISTORY

GEOGRAPHY

MODERN FOREIGN LANGUAGES

And for the ANSWERS to all of the above, click here.

Have you got yours yet?

Just like the perfect Christmas stocking, What is Myrrh Anyway? contains all manner of delightful surprises and delicious morsels of information. It demystifies the origins of Christmas and uncovers the truth behind such familiar festive traditions as carol-singing and cards.


If you've ever wondered how to cook the perfect roast turkey, what mince pies should really taste like, or why you are forced to endure the cross-dressing antics of a traditional pantomime every year, then simply open this Christmas cracker of a book and discover the answers to all those questions you've been too afraid - or embarrassed - to ask.

What is Myrrh Anyway? Hits the ground running!

What is Myrrh Anyway?, published by Icon Books, is available from all good bookshops now!

I happened to be in the Richmond branch of Waterstone's today, so if you're passing that way tomorrow you'll find a festive message scribbled in the front accompanied by a scrawl that happened to be my signature.

Consider it an early Christmas present from yours truly. ;-)

What is Myrrh Anyway?

Much excitement in the Green househould this morning, as my author copies of What is Myrrh Anyway? have arrived. And for what started out as a relatively short stocking filler of a book, it's actually turned out to be quite a weighty little book on the subject of Christmas and its traditions.So if you've always wondered why Christmas Day falls on 25 December (and not the 15 Augcember, for anyone who's seen the new series of Harry and Paul on BBC1), or can't understand why Brussels sprouts are always on the menu for Christmas dinner, then this little Christmas cracker of a book is the one for you.

The book isn't officially published by Icon Books until 2 October, but it is available to pre-order over on Amazon. And you can discover more fun and fascinating facts about the festive season over on the dedicated What is Myrrh Anyway? blog.

Ho, ho, ho.

The Massive Match Wits Giveaway!

How would you like to have a copy of Match Wits with the Kids, signed by the author... and for free?

Well, if you would, then make sure you're outside the Department for Children, Schools and Families (Sanctuary Buildings, Great Smith Street, London, SW1P 3BT) between 8.00am and 10.00am this Friday 18 July 2008.

Icon Books are going to be giving away 500 free copies of Match Wits with the Kids and I'll be there to sign them as well. All those involved in the giveaway will be wearing Match Wits t-shirts and will be happy to explain why this is the most important book of the summer.

Match Wits with the Kids - a little learning for all the family!

Match Wits Google Search

I'm told by those people whose business it is to know such things that companies put a lot of effort and money into having their names at the top of the list when anybody puts the relevant search into Google.

However, I have also been told that with a little canny use of the Internet yourself, a writer can achieve the same results without having the big budget to back them up.

So, you can see why I'm understandably very happy that when you type 'Match Wits with the Kids' into Google UK, that the first ten items on the search results page are all to do with my book! This is thanks in part to an Amazon listing, my publisher Icon Books arranging for me to be filmed by the people at Meet the Author, and my own blogging efforts.

It just goes to show, that a little effort in the right place at the right time can work wonders! A lesson for us all, I feel.

Out with the old...

I've started a new project this week, my next Ulysses Quicksilver Pax Britannia adventure Human Nature, due to be published by Abaddon Books this December. It's great to get back to Pax Britannia after a bit of a break. I've written three books since Leviathan Rising (although I did have two weeks 'off' to write the Ulysses Quicksilver novella Vanishing Point) and it's good to immerse myself in the steampunk setting once again.

But a new project means a whole new set of research materials and other notes cluttering up my desk, so before commencing, I had a bit of a sort out, putting away all my books about Christmas, and the like, which I used in the writing of What is Myrrh Anyway? (out in October from Icon Books). You can see how things have changed in these before and after shots.

My desk whilst after writing What is Myrrh Anyway?

A tidied workspace, ready to start on Human Nature.

There's that old adage, a tidy desk is a sign of a tidy mind (or a sick mind, depending on your own personal philosophy), but for me, my workspace has to reflect what I'm working on, to help keep me focused on the project in hand. I find this particularly important when juggling so many different balls in the air at the same time, writing books for widely varying genres.

So, while I was penning The Horror of Howling Hill, I had my Doctor Who Encyclopedia out, other Decide your Destiny books available to check style and an inflatable Dalek. With Match Wits with the Kids I was surrounded by all manner of reference books, diagrams and miscellanies. And now? Well, there are guide books of Whitby, a map of the North York Moors, postcards of Whitby Abbey and pictures of dried fish carcasses... and it's all the name of research.

So, until next time...