The blog of author Matthew J. Kirby

Category: Books

  • New York City

    Next week, my publisher is flying me to New York City.  While I’m there, The Book Fairs will be filming me for some promo things that I’ll be able to talk more about at a later time.  I’ll also be doing some recording for the audiobook of The Clockwork Three.  The audio producers are adding…

  • Book 2: finished and sold, or rather, the other way around

    As I mentioned previously, I’ve been busy finishing up my current project, and so have been somewhat quiet on this blog lately.  It has been a difficult novel to write, and the ending proved to be the most difficult part of all.  I don’t expect any book I write to be easy, and this was…

  • Release Date

    Last week, I found out the official release date of The Clockwork Three. I can now mark my calendar for October 1, 2010.   And oh-my-goodness, that’s this year.  I can measure the distance from here to there in months.  I still can’t quite believe that this is all happening. But something else happened last week…

  • Goings On

    Okay, so I haven’t blogged anything in a really long time.  But when I started up this little endeavor over a year ago, I told myself that I wouldn’t let it interfere with anything of higher importance, like writing a novel.  I’m pretty busy right now, which means any spare time I have is going…

  • May I recommend…

    The holiday season is here, which for many people is a time of giving gifts, and I wanted to take a moment to mention the importance of making sure some of those gifts are books. My parents always gave us books for Christmas.  It was something I could count on and always looked forward to,…

  • Book Updates

    A couple of things have been going on, book-wise. First, Scholastic Audio has acquired the audiobook rights to The Clockwork Three! I’m really excited by this news, and I am grateful that Scholastic is so behind my book on all fronts. The audiobook will be released simultaneously with the print edition. I don’t know which…

  • Once Was Lost book launch, and Carl Sagan

    On Thursday I attended the book launch for Sara Zarr’s new novel Once Was Lost.  It was a wonderful event, with a reading and a Q&A, and beautiful cookies and a birthday cake.  Afterward, some of us went out to eat and had a really nice time. I was going to do a write-up on…

  • LeVar Burton

    Neal Conan recently interviewed the actor and former host of Reading Rainbow for Talk of the Nation on NPR.  I really enjoyed their conversation, and loved what Mr. Burton had to say about the role of reading in the lives of children, and the mission of the show.  This quote summed it up nicely: “Sesame…

  • No more butterflies in the sky…

    Reading Rainbow is ending its 26-year run on public television. What could be greater than a show whose purpose it was to promote reading and make it fun for kids?  I loved watching it when I was growing up, and I looked for those books I’d seen LeVar Burton introduce.  And it meant something to…

  • What's in a name?

    After much brainstorming, emailing, considering, and discarding, my book officially has a title.  All the necessary people have signed off on it, so I can tell you here.  My debut novel is called: The Clockwork Three I really like it.  The challenge was coming up with something that worked for the whole book.  I came…