Meddling Freebies #3: Teen Sleuth Rules

An idea for a series of badges: the rules of teen detective fiction (mild spoilers: all of them are struck out in Meddling Kids). These never went past the Photoshop stage.

By the way, if you don't own your MK copy yet, or want to own an extraordinarily dirty one, Doubleday is throwing a holiday giveaway of signed books! Signed, doodled and pencil-colored by an author with very little real work to do. Follow @doubledaybooks on Instagram for a chance to win now! The girls will be given away today, and the boys are on their way!

Meddling Freebies #2: Bookmarks

I designed these as giveaways at conventions when we were pitching swag for MK. I have shared the front pictures before: the foreground kids are mine, whereas the silhouetted adults were drawn by artist Jordi March, who was also the photographer for the story on the Pennaquick Telegraph in the book.

Each model included a different quote from the depicted character on the back.

A fifth bookmark contains the rules for Word Bluff, the official Blyton Summer Detective Club car trip game. Try it at home!

Meddling Freebies #1: Meddling Comic!

In the week before Halloween, Meddling Kids has gone into its sixth reprint. And I'm as happy as an author whose novel has gone into its sixth reprint. (Yeah, guess what: without my editor I am incapable of creating metaphors.)

To celebrate the spoopy reads season, I thought I'd share some of the promotional material I made. I posted glimpses of this comic while in the making, but never the whole thing. This was supposed to accompany the early copies of MK that are sent to distributors and booksellers, as a way to introduce the book and myself to them. Although it says I'm a cartoonist there on the side column, and it's true, I don't draw comics these days, and even when I used to publish them in El Jueves full pages were not that common. This is far from perfect, but I'm happy with parts of it. It's spoiler-free, but those who have read MK will notice some inside jokes. Enjoy!

So Many Damn Books!

I went to visit these kids in Park Slope to record an episode of their booky podcast, and they were excellent hosts. We talked teen detectives, adult criminals, what Enid Blyton and H.P. Lovecraft had in common (it's not good), and they invited me to a signature cocktail (that was really good, as you can tell by my dangerous lack of inhibition toward the end). You can listen to it on iTunes or livestream or on their own website.

Or you can try the cocktail at home.

Event Alert: New York Comic Con!

Me: Oh my God there's a Comic Con in NYC and no one told me? I want to go!

My publicist: Edgar, I told you about it weeks ago--you're signing books and giving out merchandising on Friday, 10/6 at 3pm, and on Saturday, 10/7 at 11am.

Me: You're making me work during the Comic Con?


- Friday, October 6th, 3pm. Satuday, October 7, 11am.

- Javits Center. 655 W 34th St, New York, NY 10001

- Tickets & info