Much more hilarious, however, is the plot of this play they're performing. Naturally, the kids are determined to poke around and find out the truth of the matter. There is a rumor that the play was performed seventy years ago, but the boy playing the Phantom disappeared without a trace and the play is supposedly cursed now. where the hell do they go to middle school?), and some mysterious agent is trying to sabotage them. The plot of the actual book isn't all that strange the kids are putting on a play entitled The Phantom at their middle school (dude, these kids did Guys and Dolls last year, too. This book's in the grand tradition of horror Phantoms starting with Lon Chaney's in 1925, and uses a lot of the same tropes and ideas, just rendered down for a younger audience. This series hits pretty much every major horror archetype out there, so it's no surprise that a version based on the Phantom story came along. Obviously, my adult wussiness when it comes to horror is not a new phenomenon these, and many other patently ridiculous horror stories for kids, scared the bejeezus out of me, even when their premises were beyond laughable (there was one where a sponge from under the kitchen sink was possessed and evil. My ten-year-old self found it absolutely terrifying, and often restricted herself to only reading one book at a time so as to keep from overloading herself with too much panic to handle.

Phantom of the Auditorium by R.L. Stine

I came up with the world specifically for these books, and that was actually quite a nice thing - I’ve learned a lot since I wrote the first law books so it was nice to be able to come up with something fresh, something without all the baggage of all those words written, something specifically suited to the kind of story I wanted to tell. Was this really a problem at all for you, or did you already have ideas or notes on a possible Viking-esque story? Were there any particular difficulties, aside from time management? And what did you find the most enjoyable part of writing it?  I have to admit that I was surprised that you took a departure from the First Law world, not least because writing for a completely different world from scratch sounds like a massive challenge. With every project there’ll always be moments where you feel negative about it, and for me that period tends to stretch from just after starting the project, to just as I’m getting to the end.ģ.  I think being a professional means not relying on inspiration, having to find ways to make progress when you’re not feeling particularly into what you’re doing. Certainly you do feel burned out at times, certainly you have days where you feel pretty uninspired. I guess you break the tasks down into small bits, and make sure you’re making some kind of progress each day. How did you manage to avoid getting burned out, especially when travel could upset your writing schedule? Yet somehow during this time you managed to not only write the Shattered Sea trilogy, but also made it a strong and powerful series. You've had a punishing promotional schedule over the past couple of years, doing cons and book signings across Europe and America. Well, I think that the downside of being a venomously ambitious sociopath, if there is one, is that one is always looking forward towards the next enemy to be destroyed, rather than smiling upon the heap of corpses you’ve left in your wake.Ģ. Do you ever take a moment from your hectic schedule to look back on how far you've come, and enjoy your success? So far as I understand it, you are now Britain's best-selling fantasy author, and are published in at least 20 different languages. Apparently a lot of people took your advice. I remember when you first joined the chronicles forums nearly ten years ago, you kept saying 'Buy my book'.  With the third book in his Shattered Sea trilogy coming out on July 16th, and despite a gruelling schedule this year - that has seen him attend conventions across Europe and the USA, and a whirlwind signing tour of the UK - Joe Abercrombie was able to take time-out to speak to chrons.ġ.

The Faithless Hawk by Margaret Owen