Nick Kyme

Just a quick reminder that there’s only today and tomorrow to enter the Salamander competition. At stake? Well, up for grabs is a copy of my latest book Salamander, signed to you by the author personally.

All entries must be in 12 midnight GMT tomorrow, Saturday 4th July (so, American Independence Day if you’re from that neck of the woods).

Good luck to everyone who has entered.

As anticipation grows for the release of Batman: Arkham Asylum IGN.com have published another video of the forthcoming video game.

This one offers something new, plus some previously seen footage. Most interesting is the commentary by the game’s designers and its principal story writer, Paul Dini.

On offer in this latest video is a short tour around the asylum itself and even some scenes which look to be based at Gotham Harbour, though this could be Arkham too as it is based on an island. A few new locations are revealed, as well as some in-game scenes of Batman taking on Killer Croc in the sewers - brutal. There’s also a hint or two of inmates locked in a chamber and driven mad by fear gas… Scarecrow anyone?

The gothic asylum of Jeremiah Arkham is based on a massive island

So far, it’s looking absolutely awesome. We can only hope it plays as good as it looks. August 28th can’t come soon enough…

Had a great time today at Wath Library in Rotherham, where I was doing a reading, writing workshop, Q&A and signing for a group of thirty school kids aged 12-13.

After my first foray into the art of workshopping with children, I felt more prepared for the challenge second time around. After a pretty long trip by train with way too may changes for such a short (ish) distance (though there was air-con; not on the way back, though, bizarrely), I arrived in Rotherham Central and was picked up by Rachel Wade who was basically running the Children’s Literature Festival at a bunch of libraries in the town, of which I was a contributing writer, as part of her role as Reading Development Officer for Rotherham.

I was only there for just over two hours (including lunch and refreshments) but very well looked after by the library staff, in particular Caroline and Marie - my sincere thanks to you both.

There’s was a bit of banter with the staff and then the time rolled around for me to go over and start the writerly bit. After a short ‘breaking the ice’ session, where everyone got to say their names and one of their interests, I related a little of how I became a writer and what motivated me to pursue this most elusive of careers so doggedly. With the potted history, I felt I was losing some of the less literary inclined so moved on swiftly to a reading from Salamander.

This went down very well, though I was a little worried that some of the parents and teachers wouldn’t appreciate the blood and violence in the opening prologue. The kids seemed to love it and the adults didn’t mind, so it was all good.

I then opened up the floor to a fairly lengthy Q&A session and answered some pretty insightful and probing questions (I wonder if I was so insightful at that age?).

Next came a workshop session on developing and writing characters, which went down extremely well (as it was more interactive). Finally, I got the group to devise a story based on the character we had created and told it in stages to round off the afternoon. The latter part of the workshop was totally unplanned, so I’m really glad and relieved that it worked.

I’d already done some signing. There one or two final questions then everyone left and was whisked back to Rotherham Train Station. I had a short wait for my train, during which I saw an old gentleman dressed in a red suit who was chatting merrily to himself and perusing his collection of Royal Family portrait mugs - what a wonderful world we live in.

I had a great time and the day went really well. I hope it was interesting for all concerned, and it looks like they might want me back for a return gig.