This past year has had a lot of ups and downs. On a personal level, it was a particularly difficult year dominated by the death of my mum after a long struggle with Alzheimer’s disease. So I can’t say that I’m disappointed to see the end of 2024. On a professionally level, it was a […]
I am so excited to be announcing this! The first YOU CHOOSE book, The Treasure of Dead Man’s Cove, was published ten years ago in 2014. The last book in the series, Footy Fever, was published seven years ago in 2017. And now… [insert drum roll] YOU CHOOSE is returning with YOU CHOOSE MEGA! More […]
What’s true? What’s not? Can you tell the difference? A new podcast from me and fellow author Michael Pryor, that mixes fact and fiction, then tries to sort them out. In each episode we present three remarkable stories to each other. Two stories are true, but one is totally made up. Subscribe to the podcast […]
2023 was a good year for my writing. I had a novel, four school readers and an essay published. One of my books won an award (I also made it onto a couple of short lists) and another one of my books went overseas. I wrote a few things and did heaps of speaking. Yep… […]
I’m a professional writer. More importantly, I’m a slightly obsessive fanboy. If ever my writing world collides with my fannish obsessions, it makes me deliriously happy. It’s happened a few times. I’ve been lucky enough to write in, amongst others, the universes of The X-Files, Night Terrace and Doctor Who, as well as the world […]
It’s been over a month since the release of Monster Island and I’ve had some pretty great feedback. The reviews from grown-ups have all been awesome, saying things like… “The action comes thick and fast, and George Ivanoff has done an excellent job of making the reader feel as though they’re right alongside Bernie and […]
Today, my new middle-grade novel, Monster Island, roars onto bookshop shelves across the country. I am SUPER EXCITED! To celebrate, I baked some dinosaur cookies! Reviews have already started to come appear… “This is an incredibly fun and exciting adventure that you won’t want to put down.”Books & Publishing “Filled with dinosaur facts, famous mysteries, […]
Despite the constant threat of Covid, 2022 saw everything opening up and a return to face-to-face festivals and school visits. It was good to be back! On the publishing front, I had one novel, four school readers and a number of short stories come out. A very satisfying year! The Mystery of Lucy Wilson: Memories […]
Random Vanishing Info This is the final blog post in my series examining all the stuff that got cut out of The Supernatural Survival Guide before its publication. In this installment, I’ve collected together some bits of info from the book’s final section EVERYTHING ELSE (ALL OF IT WEIRD). Chapter 17: Nothing is what it seems, […]
Spooky Stuff That Disappeared Another blog post in my series examining all the stuff that got cut out of The Supernatural Survival Guide before its publication. In this installment, I’ve collected together my favourate bits that disappeared from the book’s third section FROM BEYOND THE GRAVE. First up, here’s a bit of historical info that […]
Abducted information THEY CAME FROM OUTTA THIS WORLD… MAYBE is the first (and longest) section in The Supernatural Survival Guide, and contains lots of information about UFOs (Unidentified Flying Objects), including reports of aliens abducting people. Well, I’m not sure about alien abduction, but I had to abduct and remove some info from this section […]
The Hazel Edwards Interview The first completed draft of The Supernatural Survival Guide contained an interview with well-known Australian Children’s author Hazel Edwards. It appeared along with the Fact File about the Westall UFO Incident in Chapter 2: Look! Up in the Sky! In 1966, Hazel was a new teacher at Westall High School and […]
The Deleted Chapter Early drafts of The Supernatural Survival Guide contained a chapter that is no longer there. Yes, that’s right. I ended up cutting out an entire chapter. This was originally going to be the final chapter in the BEASTLY STUFF section. But in the end, I decided that its focus on mythological creatures […]
Cutting Words The first completed draft of The Supernatural Survival Guide was several thousand words over the ideal word count. What can I say? I was so into the topic and my research was uncovering heaps of really cool info… and… well… I got a little carried away. So there was a great deal of […]
Who would’ve thought that we could get a year more challenging than 2020? Ah well… with that year having been a practice run, at least I was better equipped to handle 2021. I had two books published this year. .. My entry into the Lethbridge-Stewart range of Doctor Who spinoff novels, Fear Frequency, came out […]
AUSTRALIA READS is an initiative to get more Aussies reading, more often. As an avid reader, as a parent of avid readers and as an author, this is something that means a great to me. Reading is not just an important life skill, it’s not just a gateway to learning, it’s not just a way […]
The following article was recently published in the CBCA Vic Branch Newsletter. OTHER WORLDS in the classroom Each year the Book Week theme opens the doors of possibility, giving teachers and librarians an opportunity to get children engaged with reading. But more than that, these themes can lead to classroom discussions on a wide variety […]
They’re here! They’re finally here! I was so exited when my Lethbridge-Stewart novel, Fear Frequency, was released. So it was an odd feeling not having my copies. Due to Candy Jar Books being in the UK, and the vagaries of international deliveries, it was over three weeks between publication and my copies arriving. I had […]
Here it is folks… the cover for THE SUPERNATURAL SURVIVAL GUIDE, which will hit bookshops on 28 September 2021! Meanwhile, the covers for the first two GUIDES have been shortlisted in the Australian Book Designers Association awards in the Children’s/Young Adult Series category. The first book was a collaboration – Bruno Herfst and Tony Palmer […]
What does an author do when there’s a snap Covid lockdown? Make more videos, of course! This time around I’ve gone for short (under 10 seconds), sharp little promos for The Human Body Survival Guide that can be used on social media. I’ll be uploading them to Instagram, Twitter and FaceBook… but I thought I’d […]
I am super excited to reveal the cover for Fear Frequency, my upcoming novel in the Lethbridge-Stewart range of Doctor Who spinoff books. The cover artwork is by the wonderfully talented Adrian Salmon (check out his blog). This is all finally starting to feel real, although I don’t think I will 100% believe it until I’m holding a copy in […]
Well, hasn’t 2020 been one heck of a year? Back in January I had no idea that a pandemic was on it’s way, that I would find myself in lockdown, twice, that schools would start cancelling speaking gigs and that I’d have to learn to switch over to virtual presentations. It was challenging, both on […]
Hold on to your tinfoil hats folks… it’s time to research everything spooky, weird and unexplained. That’s the focus of the new SURVIVAL GUIDE that I am currently working on. I will be covering cryptozoology, UFOlogy, ghost hunting and a range of other topics. I will be approaching the subject matter from a sceptic’s starting […]
Puffin in the kids’ imprint of Penguin Random House and 2020 is the little bird’s 80th birthday. There should have been HUGE celebrations! There should have been parties! There should have been MASSIVE author events! BUT… We had Covid-19 instead. So celebrations happened in the virtual world instead. Social media banners, videos, pics and all sort […]
Here’s the first of The Human Body Survival Guide trailers, featuring Dr George (not a real doctor)… And here’s the second… And the third… With Victoria in lockdown, making location shooting untenable, I had to change my plans for these videos and learn all about blue screen. It was a rather steep learning curve, but […]
Unboxing videos seem to be all the rage these days. But I’d never done one… until now! Of course, I couldn’t possibly do an ordinary one. So here it is, the unboxing of The Human Body Survival Guide.
As the Melbourne Lockdown continues, I want to continue making vids. But, I don’t want to be doing the same thing over and over again. So I thought I’d try something a little different. A set of short videos about drawing… even though I am REALLY BAD at drawing. I’m hoping that they might encourage […]
Another reading, this time from OTHER WORLDS: Game World. Computer games, robot birds, laser pistols and a car chase… what more could you want? As usual, shot on my iPhone and edited with iMovie. This time I played around with multiple angles and editing. Hope you like it.
As Melbourne continues with Lockdown 2.0, I’m continuing with my vids. It’s been a while since my last reading (You Choose, 6 May), so I thought it was high time for another one. This is the opening of “Chapter One: Zyra” from Level Up!, which is the second book in my YA Gamers trilogy. Hope you enjoy […]
Melbourne has begun its new lockdown, so I’m back to video making. My GAMERS trilogy, published by Ford Street Publishing, returned to bookshop shelves this year with awesome new covers from Matthew Lin. They were published in March, just before the first lockdown, so I’ve not been able to do much in the way of physical […]
The Covid-19 Isolation continues… and so do my reading vids. This one is from You Choose: In the Realm of Dragons. This is my first attempt at using green screen to create a split screen video in order to have two of me in the same shot. It was A LOT harder than I anticipated. I […]
Here’s another reading. This one is from Beast World, which is Book 2 in the OTHER WORLDS series. Although these books can be read as a sequential series, they are also designed to work as stand-alones. This time, I’ve played around a bit with editing and special effects. I am very much enjoying the process of creating […]
Another week of pandemic induced self-isolation… another video reading. Something a little different this time. It’s only the first scene of my short story “Future Dreaming”, which appeared in the anthology Under the Weather: Stories about climate change (ed: Tony Bradman, Frances Lincoln, UK, 2009). But then I go on to give you my two cents […]
I’m back with another reading video, this time from The RFDS Adventures: Emergency Echo. In this extract, we get to hear about Fergus Callaghan, a pilot with the Aerial Medical Service (the precursor to the RFDS) in the 1930s. Please excuse my Irish accent. 🙂
Self-isolation is still happening, so here’s another reading to help you pass the time. My Aussie accent is pretty shocking and REALLY inconsistent… but who cares! This reading features Bruce The Dropbear, and even a couple of my chickens manage to make an appearance. Many thanks to my wife Kerri for directing and my daughter Lexi […]
It’s time for a cover reveal! It seems rather appropriate to be revealing the cover of The Human Body Survival Guide as we are all trying to survive a viral pandemic… especially since viruses get their own section in this book. (No, the Covid-19 pandemic is not a marketing ploy on my part.) I adore this […]
With self-isolation being the new norm during this time of viral pandemic, I thought I’d inflict a bit of reading on the unsuspecting Interwebs. Here are a couple short excerpts from my books… The first is a reading from the interactive You Choose: The Treasure of Dead Man’s Cove: And the second is a reading from Game […]
Life in Australia has become rather strange since the arrival of the Covid-19 pandemic. Social distancing has become a thing, hand sanitising is now the norm, and panic buying of toilet paper has hit insanity levels. But schools have also been affected. Many have closed due to staff or students having contracted the virus. States […]
Happy Publication Day to the new-look GAMERS trilogy. Originally published between 2009 and 2013, they are back with new covers, new titles and new marketing. These awesome covers are by Matthew Lin. All three books can now be purchased directly from Ford Street Publishing. Or you can get your favourite bookshop to order them in. […]
Last week I had the great pleasure of attending Voices on the Coast in Queensland. Organised by Immanuel Lutheran College in conjunction with The University of the Sunshine Coast, it was two days of immersion in books and all things reading, as students were bussed in from surrounding schools to attending presentations and workshops with […]
One of my all-time favourite characters from DOCTOR WHO is Brigadier Alistair Gordon Lethbridge-Stewart, head of U.N.I.T. during the Pertwee era, as portrayed on screen by the late, great Nicholas Courtney. So it is with much excitment (and not a little bit of disbelief) that I now find myself writing the character. In 2015, Candy […]
Okay folks, here they are… the awesome new covers by Matthew Lin for the three Gamers novels… These new editions will be released by Ford Street Publishing in March 2020.
It’s the New Year! It’s the New Decade! It’s time to celebrate and look forward to 2020, which has such a lovely science-fiction ring to it. But it’s also a chance to look back and celebrate the past as well. My BIG publication for 2019 was The Australia Survival Guide, released on 1 October by Puffin […]
Yes folks, it’s announcement time… I am officially revealing that my next book is The Human Body Survival Guide! This follow-up to The Australia Survival Guide, is keeping the feel and approach of the first, but with a very different topic. It is particularly focused on all the gross stuff. So this book is full of poo […]
The Australia Survival Guide, my first foray into commercial non-fiction, was published by Puffin Australia on 1 October 2019. And I was nervous. Seriously nervous! After all, I’m known for writing fiction, mostly science fiction, fantasy and OTT action/adventure. Yes, I’ve written loads of educational non-fiction, but that’s a completely different market. So this book […]
Zyra is coming back! Tark is coming back! The GAMERS trilogy is coming back! My first trilogy of novels is set to be rebranded and rereleased March 2020 with Ford Street Publishing. AWESOME new covers have been created by the amazingly talented Matthew Lin. And the books have new individual titles that are a little […]
Here they are… my 4 short book trailers for THE AUSTRALIA SURVIVAL GUIDE, which will be in bookshops from Tuesday 1 October. I had way too much fun making these. Huge thanks to my wife, Kerri, for directing them. And a shout out to my daughter, Lexi, who features in the beach trailer. And I’ve […]
I am currently poring over page proofs for The Australia Survival Guide, which goes off to the printers on Friday. But I’m taking a short break to officially reveal the cover. Feast your eyes on this… It will be hitting the shelves on 1 October 2019 under the Puffin imprint from Penguin Random House Australia. I. […]
FIVE YEARS! Five years in a row! I am absolutely floored! The REAL awards shortlist (which feeds into the YABBAs in Victoria, the KOALAs in NSW and the KROCs in the Northern Territory) has been announced and You Choose: Alien Invaders From Beyond the Starsis on it, in the “Fiction For Older Readers” section. It is […]
We have more venomous snakes than you can poke a stick at. We have creepy-crawly spiders that can sneak up on you. We have crocs and sharks with really big teeth in our waters. We have raging bushfires and unexpected floods. We have an often harsh environment with bushlands and deserts to get lost in. […]
Blimey… what a year! 2018 was busy. Real busy! Like, super busy! Lots of writing and touring and speaking. It was all pretty amazing! The big thing was, of course, the publication of the OTHER WORLDS series. Four sci-fi/fantasy/adventure books for kids aged 8 and up. Books 1 and 2 came out in February and […]
A bunch of authors and illustrators touring around Melbourne and Sydney on a mini-bus with a publicist… what could possibly go wrong? Well… aside from being mobbed by an entire school’s worth of kids desperate for the bag of lollies I was about to distribute on Halloween; and being made to impersonate a meerkat on […]
Getting a good review is pretty great. But getting a good review in which your writing is compared to someone/something you are a fan of… well… that’s just AWESOME! In her Magpies magazine review of Game World, Beth Dolan wrote: “Special mention of the mother-figure who could challenge Coraline’s Button Mother for creepy malevolence.” OMG! […]
Whilst attending a writers festival in an odd faux Swiss village in Tasmania, named Grindelwald, some of my fellow-writers and I decided that it would make a great setting for a murder mystery novel. One by one, authors are murdered for the mistakes they have made in their novels, their method of demise being in […]
After individual trailers for Perfect World and Beast World, we now have a trailer for the OTHER WORLDS series as a whole. 🙂
Game World and Dark World (books 3 and 4 of OTHER WORLDS) hit the shelves today. Yay! I’m celebrating with some flourless orange cake. But… um… I was most of the way through my slice before I realised that I had forgotten to take a photo for this blog post. Whoops!
OMG! OMG! OMG! A You Choose book has made it on to the REAL awards shortlist for the fourth year in a row. How cool is that? And what an amazing honour! The REAL (Reading & Enjoying Australian Literature) awards are a group of state-based awards for children’s literature that are nominated and voted on […]
Today I ran a two-hour intensive writing workshop for kids aged seven and up, at Eltham Bookshop. It was all about structure and planning. Several of the participants were interested in using the group planning activities as a basis for their own writing, so I promised to put photos of the whiteboard plans up on […]
Happy Publication Day to this awesome footy anthology. I’m pleased to have a story (about football on another planet) in this book, along with those written by Michael Wagner, Tony Wilson, Nicole Hayes, Adrian Beck, Michael Panckridge, Sherryl Clark, Patrick Loughlin, Meredith Costain, Shivaun Plozza and David Lawrence. And the illustrations are by Simon Rattray. […]
January 29 will see the release of another two FLIP ME! You Choose editions… The first will bring together Extreme Machine Challenge and In the Realm of Dragons. And the second has Creepy Crawly Chaos and City of Robots. This will complete the set of FLIP ME!, 2-in-1 You Choose books. Very exciting!
The time has come to unveil my new OTHER WORLDS book series. This is where I get to tell you a little about it and also show you the first two covers – illustrated by the always awesome James Hart (who also does the covers for my You Choose series) and designed by Tony Palmer. […]
In October this year I had the pleasure of touring the Central Coast area of NSW, courtesy of the local branch of the Children’s Book Council of Australia. Over the course of five days I visited seven schools, two bookshops, a library book club and a Teacher-Librarian networking event. And I even managed to squeeze […]
I still can’t quite believe it, but You Choose: Alien Invaders From Beyond the Stars has been named as an Honour Book in the KOALA Awards for the second year in a row. Thank you, thank you, thank you to all those who voted for it. And, of course, thank you to the organisers for […]
Not long now before I can reveal the covers for the first two books in my new OTHER WORLDS series, along with some info. Until then, here’s a bit of a teaser.
Hands up, who went to this year’s Melbourne Writers Festival? [LOTS, given the crowds of people I saw.] Who had a wonderful, inspiring, creative time? [Insert deafening cheers.] I was there! This was my second year in a row running a sold-out workshop as part of the Schools Program. How lucky am I? The workshop […]
Time to take a specky, kick a goal and read a book… oh… and eat some Tim Tams. ‘Cause today, You Choose AFL: Footy Fever hits the shops! I always celebrate a new release with food. And with a book about the most famous of Aussie sports, what could be better than the most famous […]
I am totally blown away by this! “An Eye For and Eye”, my story from The X-Files: Secret Agendas anthology, has been shortlisted for a SCRIBE AWARD. Shortlisted! As in, one of only five stories! Blimey! That certainly calls for a bit of celebrating. As an author, I’ve never chased awards. But it is very […]
I’ve been keeping this a secret since November 2016… but I can finally reveal details of the next You Choose book. It’s a footy-themed story that’s been licensed by the Australian Football League. And it features real-life AFL players (as well as a ninja, a Footy Godmother and a group of grumpy old men who […]
Three years is a row! I find it hard to believe, but that’s the situation– I’ve made it onto the REAL Awards (Reading & Enjoying Australian Literature) shortlist for the third year running, thanks to my YOU CHOOSE books. The REAL awards are a group of state-based awards for children’s literature that are nominated and […]
I often joke that my mind is as cluttered as my desktop, which is why I’m rarely able to concentrate on just one project at a time – too much stuff churning around the abyss within my head, clamoring for attention. Unless I have a really short deadline that forces me to concentrate on just […]
In celebration of International Women’s Day I thought I’d post a pic of some of my favourite books written by women. This is only a small selection, limited by what was to hand on my bookshelves and a decision to only choose one book per author (and a very hard choice that was in some […]
Happy Publication Day for the latest YOU CHOOSE FLIP ME books. The release of YOU CHOOSE books one to four in 2-in-1 FLIP ME editions was a success! So now, here are books five to eight in the same format. Yay! Sadly, I forgot to organise cake, which is how I usually celebrate a Publication […]
I run quite a lot of writing workshops each year, mostly in schools and libraries, on topics such as character development, story structure, world building and finding inspiration. In recent years I’ve also run workshops on writing interactive stories like my YOU CHOOSE books. All of these workshops have been for kids and teens, who […]
Remember Transformers? Robots in disguise. More than meets the eye. Toys. Animated television series. More toys. Animated feature film. Even more toys. Series of a live-action blockbusters. And the toys keep on coming. As a teenager in the 1980s, when Transformers first crossed my radar, I dismissed them as silly and childish to my friends, […]
I’m part of a breakfast cereal promotion! Well… my books are. Which is pretty cool. Kellogg’s are running a book promotion with some of their breakfast cereals from 1 January to the 8 April 2017 in Australia and New Zealand. Buy two specially marked boxes of cereal and you can get a free book. There […]
HAPPY NEW YEAR everyone! What better way is there to celebrate than with the release of two new YOU CHOOSE books? Books 11 and 12 hit the shelves today. Rather than celebrating with cake, which is what I usually do, today I’m working my way through leftover German Christmas biscuits and chocolates. 🙂 And I […]
It’s hard to separate a festival from its location. And really, in this case, why would you want to? Goulburn is such a pretty town, filled with wonderful old buildings (one of them being the Mandelson’s Hotel, where I stayed), excellent cafes and a giant concrete Marino nicknamed Rambo. And the Goulburn Reader Writer Festival […]
On Thursday 3 November, You Choose: Alien Invaders From Beyond the Stars got an Honour Award at the KOALAs, NSW’s annual children’s choice awards, in the Fiction for Younger Readers category. How cool is that? Even cooler… the other Honour Award went to Jacqueline Harvey’s Alice Miranda at Camp. I feel very privileged to be […]
My first picture book, Meet… the Flying Doctors, illustrated by the talented Ben Wood, hits bookstores across Australia today. I’m celebrating with some baklava. 🙂 This is a non-fiction, historical picture book that tells the story of Rev John Flynn and the formation of the Royal Flying Doctor Service. On a recent trip to Alice […]
The Royal Flying Doctor Service saves many lives, but medical assistance and outback rescues are not all they do. They also educate. They visit schools and kindergartens, and talk to kids. Today I had the great pleasure of meeting RFDS educator, Tom Ryan and sitting in on his session at Olympic Avenue Kindergarten. He had […]
Time to unveil the AWESOME covers for the upcoming You Choose books – Creepy Crawly Chaos and City of Robots. As always, thank you to the talented James Hart. These books will hit the stores on 3 January 2017!
As a reader, I love short stories. They give me the ability to experience a complete tale in one sitting, when I have limited time up my sleeve. As a writer, I love short stories. They give me the chance to experiment. And I love the challenge of getting a story, characters and setting across […]
Whitsunday Anglican School in Mackay certainly knows how to host one heck of a great Youth Literature Festival. Two days of presentations and workshops with fifteen authors and illustrators, attended by thousands of students from schools all over the region. As one of the speakers, I spent two days feeling like a rock star, speaking […]
Time for cake and Champagne! I’ve hit 100 published books! Today is Publication Day for my latest You Choose books — You Choose 9: Extreme Machine Challenge and You Choose 10: In the Realm of Dragons. In the Realm of Dragons is officially my 100th published book. I cannot describe just how excited I am […]
With books 9 and 10 in the You Choose series due for release very soon, it is with much excitement that I begin work on books 11 and 12. 11! AND! 12! I’m still pinching myself just to make sure it’s not all a dream. Although it all begins with scribbles in a notebook, things […]
Informative and inspiring! Last week I attended my first ever Children’s Book Council of Australia conference. It was such an amazing experience. With a theme of READ: MYRIAD POSSIBILITIES, it was held in Sydney over two days (20-21 May). Authors, illustrators, publishers and teacher-librarians came together to discuss the topic closest to their hearts — […]
I love picture books. I have read LOTS of them to my daughters over the years and I’ve also read LOTS of them for my own pleasure. There is something about the story telling power of words and pictures combined that is utterly magical. I have long harbored an ambition to write picture books. After […]
Books 3 and 4 in my RFDS series hit the shelves today – Medical Mission and Fast Flight. I’m celebrating, as always, with cake (it’s my little Publication Day tradition). A LOT OF CAKE! I have a Russian background (you’d never guess with a name like Ivanoff), and this past weekend was Russian Easter… so […]
‘Twas a big day today. I had fungus extracted from my ear and an award nomination announced. Exciting times! As I was sitting in a specialist’s office, getting a fungal infection vacuumed out of my ear (whilst watching the entire disgusting affair via ear-cam on a large flat screen TV), the REAL shortlist was being […]
James Hart has done it again. Get a load of these wonderful covers. That’s ten YOU CHOOSE covers that he’s now illustrated… and he still manages to bring something fresh and exciting to each and every new one. Thanks James… you’re ACE! Everyone should go and check out James Hart’s website.
I’m gonna be on TV! Channel 9! The Today Show on the morning of Tuesday 8 March (that’s tomorrow). Let me tell you why… Last week I had an amazing time touring around Adelaide to promote the release of my Royal Flying Doctor Service series of kids’ adventure books. I visited schools and bookstores, signed […]
I am VERY EXCITED to announce that the Royal Flying Doctor Service adventures will be officially launched by the Honourable Susan Close, South Australia’s Education and Child Development Minister. The launch will take place on Tuesday 1 March at the Leigh Creek Area School. After the minister’s launch speech, I’ll be talking about the inspiration […]
The first two books in the RFDS ADVENTURES take flight today. Remote Rescue, set in the South Australian ghost town of Farina, and Emergency Echo, set in the remote West Australian town of Mount Magnet, hit bookshop shelves across the country. Continuing my tradition of celebrating each Publication Day with cake, I’ve got some of […]
01/12/15 New editions… Just in time for Christmas shopping… Two books in one… Released into the wild… Happy Publication Day to the FLIP ME YOU CHOOSE books.
Ingredients: 34 authors and illustrators; 300+ students; 40 shortlisted children’s books; 4 awards; and, most importantly, cake. It’s a recipe for heaps of FUN! On Tuesday 27 October 2015, a whole bunch of authors and illustrators went along to a celebration of Aussie books that was attended by over 300 students. The location was Sacré […]
Since March I’ve been sitting on some news. I’ve been desperate to shout it from the rooftops, but I’ve had to wait until my publisher was ready to announce it. Well, that time has arrived. I can finally reveal the project I’ve been working on is a new series of kids books about the Royal […]
Book Week (and the weeks surrounding it) tends to be a busy time for kids’ authors in Australia. Lots of talking about BOOKS! And, of course, the opportunity to meet readers. Great fun! Thank you to all the schools and libraries that have hosted me over the last couple of months. The enthusiasm of kids who […]
I’m doing a happy dance! Why? Because I’ve got two bits of exciting YOU CHOOSE news to announce today. Whether these morsels of info are as thrilling for you as they are for me remains to be seen… but I’m pretty over the moon about them. So, here goes… [insert drumroll] YOU CHOOSE Books 1-4 […]
Happy Publication Day to YOU CHOOSE books 7 and 8. Super Sports Spectacular and Trapped in the Games Grid hit the stores today. To celebrate I baked a Soufflé Cheesecake. Okay… so it may have fallen apart when I took it out of the cake dish, but it still tasted YUM! I made it yesterday, […]
Fun! Informative! Educational! Literary! Overwhelming! Awesome! A total BLAST! What am I talking about? Voice On the Coast Youth Literature Festival! I was lucky enough to spend three days at this wonderful festival, organised by Immanuel Lutheran College in conjunction with The University of the Sunshine Coast. Although there were public events either side, the […]
Lots of lovely reviews have been floating around about the YOU CHOOSE books, so I thought I’d share some recent ones here on my blog. I’ll start with my favorite review. From the Weekend Advocate in NSW, it focuses on nostalgia … The ReadPlus website has published reviews of quite a number of my books. […]
It’s publication day! Books 5 and 6 in the YOU CHOOSE series have hit the bookstore shelves. With the start of this series last year, I decided that I needed a little publication day tradition. And so, on each publication day I’ve gone out to buy a small cake or pastry, photographing said culinary delight […]
You Choose: The Treasure of Dead Man’s Cove has made it onto the shortlist for the REAL awards in the category of “Fiction For Younger Readers”. REAL stands for Reading & Enjoying Australian Literature. Books on the REAL shortlist have been nominated by kids across the country. And the shortlist is then voted on by […]
Time for another cover reveal — You Choose 8: Trapped in the Games Grid. Artist James Hart has picked up on the TRON influences to create this rather AWESOME illustration…
It’s one of those literary events that all kids’ authors talk about. It’s one that everyone wants to attend. And this year I was lucky enough to be invited along as a speaker to the Somerset Celebration of Literature. Held on the Gold Coast by Somerset College, it is open to students from other schools, […]
2015 is shaping up to be a busy one in terms of speaking and travelling. I’ve hit the ground running with my first school visit and a radio interview last week. And there’s lots more coming up. The visit was to Berwick Grammar, where I got to talk to all the Year 8 boys about […]
2015 has arrived and it’s time to reveal the covers for the next two You Choose books. Due for release on 1 May, they are Night of the Creepy Carnival and Alien Invaders From Beyond the Stars. As with the first four books, the covers and internal illustrations are from the awesome James Hart. I […]
Okay folks, it’s announcement time! I am VERY EXCITED to reveal that there will be a seventh and eighth book in the You Choose series! They have been tentatively scheduled for publication in late 2015. Working titles are Super Sports Spectacular and Welcome to the GamesGrid. The whiteboard is ready and I’ve begun to take […]
It’s Happy Publication Day for a new set of kids’ anthologies from Random House Australia. Edited by Linsay Knight, they feature stories from a whole bunch of great Aussie authors. I’m very proud to say that I’ve got stories in three of them… Stories For 7 Years Olds features “The Dog Ate My Homework”. This […]
It just occurred to me today that I haven’t posted any links to reviews of the You Choose books. The first two books came out in April, the second two in June, so I think it’s about time that I did. The response has been pretty good. Here’s a small selection of quote and links… […]
On Saturday I will participating in INSIDE STORY, an international children’s book event to be held at bookstores in Australia and the USA. Each participating bookstore will host a bunch of authors who will talk about the story behind of one of their books. This will be followed by signings This is an annual event […]
Armageddon was awesome! Let me repeat that, just in case I haven’t quite made myself clear: ARMAGEDDON WAS AWESOME! For those of you who don’t know, Armageddon is a HUGE pop culture expo. Their latest event was held at the Melbourne Showgrounds this past weekend (18/19 Oct). I was lucky enough to be invited along […]
Two exciting announcements to make (well, they’re exciting to me)… I’m going to be at the Melbourne Armageddon Expo on 18/19 October. I’ll be at the Dymocks stand most of the weekend. Dymocks will have my You Choose series and Gamers trilogy in stock, and I’ll be ready with an assortment of pens and stamps […]
It’s official! It is with much excitement that I get to make this announcement: there will be another two You Choose books. 🙂 Not one… TWO! That’ll bring the total series count up to SIX! 🙂 Now all I’ve gotta do it write them. Actually, I’ve already started work on book five, tentatively titled Carnival […]
Okay… if you’re a regular visitor to my little corner of Cyberspace, you undoubtedly know about my little Doctor Who obsession. I watch it often. I buy all the DVDs. I collect the sonic screwdriver toys. I put Doctor Who references into my books. And, whenever given the opportunity, I write about the show. Last […]
It’s PUBLICATION DAY for books three and four of my You Choose series — Maze of Doom and The Haunting of Spook House. These two books, along with the first two in the series, are now available in all good bookstores. Actually… they’re probably available in the bad ones and the indifferent ones as well. […]
What would you expect from a national television interview about your latest series of books? A cream pie slammed into your face? No? How about FIVE cream pies? Earlier this week I went along to the ABC3 studios to be a guest on Studio 3, their national morning kids’ show. I was to be interviewed […]
The first two books in the You Choose series have now officially hit the shelves. And the eBook readers. So, of course, there had to be cake. What’s a publication day without cake? 🙂 The books are available in most Australian bookstores, as well as in Big W. If your local store doesn’t have any […]
Ballots for both the Ditmar and Chronos awards have now been released. And I’m on both! I’m pleasantly surprised and extremely happy. 🙂 The Ditmars are the Australian Science Fiction Achievement awards, decided by popular vote and presented each year at the National Science Fiction Convention (this year it’s Continuum X in Melbourne). They include […]
It’s finally time to reveal the covers for You Choose books three and four. Illustrator James Hart has again captured the spirit of the series with his wonderfully dynamic images. In other news… I went along to Supanova in Melbourne on Sunday to promote the first two You Choose books. I was there along with […]
Okay… so you all know about the You Choose books I’ve got coming out with Random House Australia this year? Interactive kids’ books where the reader gets to make decisions about how the story progresses — like the old Choose Your Own Adventure novels from the 1980s. The first two don’t come out until May, […]
The first two You Choose books, The Treasure of Dead Man’s Cove and Mayhem at Magic School, get released on the 1 May. The next two books get released in July. Finally, I can reveal the titles of those two books… Maze of Doom and The Haunting of Spook House Covers and internal illustrations are […]
Last year was a really good year for me in terms of education writing. I was contracted to write 14 education titles, including school readers, reference books and a couple of chapter books. Most of these books will be published over the course of 2014. I’ve been writing for the education market for many years […]
Yes folks… it’s time to reveal all about that Secret Project I’ve been going on about for ages. So… [insert drum roll] I’ve been working on a new series of kids books called… YOU CHOOSE YOU CHOOSE is a series of interactive books where the reader gets to make key decisions about how the story […]
If any of you have been following me on Twitter or Facebook (and if you haven’t… why not? ;-)) you will have been enduring continuing cryptic comments about my ‘secret project’. Well, if I may paraphrase the Walrus, the time has come… for a partial unveiling. (Don’t you just hate me right about now?) I […]
Look! I’m in the Chelsea Mordialloc News! This interview was done to promote my talk at the Mentone Public Library this Saturday. You can see the entire edition of the newspaper here. More info about the talk here.
Since my last post about reviews (see: “The reviews are in”) back in July, there have been a few more Gamers’ Rebellion reviews, as well as a one for Life, Death and Detention. In that previous post I linked to Young Adult Reader Reviews – Australia, where a 13-year-old reader didn’t click with the novel. […]
Today Australia celebrates World Teachers’ Day, so I thought I’d take a moment to say thank you. Thank you to each and every teacher I’ve had, from official to informal, from primary school to university and beyond. You have all had a huge influence upon my life and the person who I have become. Even […]
With the book trailer for Gamers’ Rebellion now up on YouTube, I thought I should post all three trailers for the Gamers books up here in order. Enjoy! GAMERS’ QUEST: GAMERS’ CHALLENGE: GAMERS’ REBELLION:
Gamers’ Rebellion was released last month and is about to have its public launch this Saturday (see: “Gamers’ Rebellion launch”). And it’s been getting a fair few reviews. I was a little worried about the review situation. The first book in the series got lots of reviews. The second got less. I feared that the […]
Last weekend I attended Continuum 9. Like those that went before it, this convention was awesome. Lots of great panels, so many interesting discussions and a really friendly, engaging vibe. For me, personally, it was special for a number of reasons. Firstly, I got to launch my new novel, Gamers’ Rebellion (third book in the […]
It’s June 2013! And my new novel, Gamers’ Rebellion, has finally been unleashed upon the Australian reading public. 🙂 It is so VERY, VERY exciting! This is the third book in the Gamers series, finishing off Tark and Zyra’s story (but leaving things open for further stories… just in case ;-)). Its release means that […]
I’ve had a fairly quiet first half of the year in terms of speaking… which is a good thing, I suppose, given how many writing projects I’ve had on the go. But things are hotting up. I’ve had a string of bookings recently, with more on the way. Three days during Book Week have already […]
Today… a post about anthologies — those wonderful books that contain short stories by a multitude of different authors. They are perfect for dipping into when you don’t have much reading time; but they’re also great for cover-to-cover devouring. I love writing short stories, so I contribute to anthologies as often as I can. Sometimes […]
At the end of March, just before I was due to head off on holiday, something wonderful arrived in the mail. It was a book! Now, I’m always excited when a book shows up in my post box, but this one was special. Not only was it a book that I had written, but it […]
Anyone who has even a passing acquaintance with me will know that I am a Doctor Who fan. And if you’ve ever visited my website, you will know that I love writing about the series. I’m rather excited about my Doctor Who writing at the moment. You see, with the 50th Anniversary of the show […]
This month, I’ve had five new school readers published by Macmillan Education, including two retellings of Aboriginal stories, two original pieces of fiction and one non-fiction book. They are: The Rainbow Serpent Why Crow is Black Me and My Family Making Things What Can You Do? There are still another six readers complete and waiting […]
In November last year I put up a short video called GEORGE IVANOFF SPEAKS about BOOKS. I also noted my intention to put up a few more short vids of myself talking about writing/reading related topics. Well, I finally found a little time to prepare another one. This video was recorded at Doveton Library in […]
I find it hard to believe that it’s 2013 already. Tempus is fugiting a little too quickly for my liking (excuse my Latin-butchering). But never mind, we must look to the future. I’ve already written about the past (well, 2012 anyway) over on my Literary Clutter bookish blog at Boomerang Books (see “The year that […]
Okay… so there’s this chain blog post thing that’s doing the rounds at the moment. It’s called THE NEXT BIG THING. Basically, it’s ten questions that are an opportunity for writers to tell people about their next project —a completed book about to be published, a work in progress or simply an idea about to […]
I have been meaning to put together some video examples of my speaking for quite a while now. The idea being that librarians everywhere will watch them and immediately be compelled to book me for a speaking gig. 😉 Well… I have finally gotten around to it. This is the first one: “GEORGE IVANOFF SPEAKS […]
My daughters and I are in the Woman’s Day magazine today! We are featured in an article called “Meet the real life House Husbands”. Written in response to the popularity of the House Husbands television series, this article singles out four Aussie dads and their kids. How did we end up in this? A few […]
I’ve just finished writing four school readers for a new K-3 Guided Reading Program to be published by Macmillan Education in Australia and New Zealand. There were three fiction titles (Hide and Seek, Grandpa Comes to Live With Us and Train Trip) and one non-fic (Changing Weather). All four readers are at Prep/Grade 1 level. […]
Gamers’ Challenge has just been released as an eBook. YAY! It’s available on Kindle through Amazon. Gamers’ Quest is also available on Kindle, as well as in the Booki.sh format through Readings. Life, Death and Detention is available is a number of different eBook formats (incluing Kindle, Epub, Palm Doc and plain old PDF) all […]
Here’s the rather wonderful cover of Outside In: 160 New Perspectives on 160 Classic Doctor Who Stories by 160 Writers. This is a book of essays edited by Robert Smith?, and I’m lucky enough to be included in its pages. The book gets released on 23 November 2012. For more info, check out the publisher’s website. […]
The new edition of Life, Death and Detention has been launched! Many thanks to all the people who showed up to help celebrate the release of my YA short story collection, Life, Death and Detention on 13 August. And a HUGE thank you to Mentone Grammar School, and particularly the Gregory Fish Library staff, for hosting […]
Trust Me Too, the bumper anthology from Ford Street Publishing, has been launched — three times! First in Sydney, then in Melbourne and most recently in Geelong. The Melbourne launch at Pinces Hill Secondary College was HUGE, with well over 100 people attending. The Geelong launch, held at Waurn Ponds Library, was smaller but no […]
July 2012 saw the release of Ford Street Publishing’s massive new YA anthology, Trust Me Too. I’m very excited about this for two reasons… 1. because I’ve got a story in it — “Gamers’ Inferno”. 2. because it’s got so many stories from so many fab Australian writers. I’m about half way through my copy […]
I’ve had three new school readers published by Macmillan Education this month. All three are at Grade 2 level and are part of the Sprints series. I’m very pleased to have books in this series, which is well edited and beautifully illustrated. Two of the books are sequels to previous Sprints titles — Snookums and […]
I am very excited to announce that my first book, a collection of short stories about life in high school, is about to be republished. Life, Death and Detention has a new publisher, a new cover and even some new content. Originally published in 1999 by Margaret Hamilton Publishing, it has been out of print […]
