5th December 2011

All Along The Watchtower

‘All along the watch tower the princes kept their view…’

If you haven’t heard Jimi Hendrix playing that Bob Dylan song (Yes, of course I am ancient!) you are missing out… Big time. Well, I think so. And that line is the beginning of the last verse, which ends with a rider approaching and the wind kicking up into a howling storm. You never know exactly why there are so many princes stuck up on the watch tower but you can bet that rider is bringing some important news. I always hope it’s going to make them happy but I know deep down that it won’t. (Cue in thundery, gloomy doomy  music at this point).

And so I have to have a watch tower in my next story,  but I don’t have much time for loads of princes (What have they ever done for me?) so they are definitely not going to be up there standing around watching. Instead, I see a young lad, curly black hair, and he’s sharp as a Jamie Oliver kitchen knife. He’s peering out over these massive walls- Imagine Hadrian’s Wall and then go; ‘Pah! They’re just squiffy small compared with the ones that guard the city in Daniel Finn’s story.’- And he sees something coming his way. It has a thousand stinking feet and a thousand bloodshot eyes and a thousand bellies that ache with hunger….

It sounds grim.

Believe me, I hadn’t thought of this at all before I just started writing a moment ago. So, whatever happens, remember this: IT IS YOUR FAULT!

Happy Christmas from me, Daniel and him, Will.

2nd September 2011

A Whole Year!

I don’t know where it went. I’ve looked everywhere. I’ve looked under every single stone on Doolough beach (that’s in County Mayo, Ireland for those of you who want to know) but I still couldn’t find it. Mind you, a smart guy could say that all that looking and peeking and peering probably took a year and so that’s exactly where the year went. Enough! Who wants smart guys telling you things you don’t want to know?

Daniel Finn has been working away on his follow up to TWO GOOD THIEVES  (or  SHE THIEF depending on which side of the Atlantic you happen to be standing) and it is called CALL DOWN THUNDER. It’s not a sequel but it does sort of connect with  TWO GOOD THIEVES. And yes, it is pretty stormy. It should be out next summer. So there is another year gone, just like that.

As for the other me, Will Gatti, him of geeks and Greeks and that sort of thing, he seems to have done a real Rip Van Winkle. I’ll have to give him a shake, rattle and roll. It’s time he did something wizzy, funny and odd, like a pair of left footed boots.

I’ll go and wake him.

5th July 2010

Hello American Reader

I hope that when you finally stumbled onto this site you weren’t confused by these cunning publishing people, because, yes, SHE THIEF is really TWO GOOD THIEVES.  In fact SHE THIEF was my original title for the story so I am very glad you guys have reclaimed it for me. I must now stir myself to get an image of the jacket up on this site because way back in 1967 when hip talk was hip it would have been called Dead cool. So that’s where we are….

…Almost, because now I need to say

HELLO TO ANY DUTCH AND GERMAN  READERS

who have popped into the site for a spot of confusion. Yes, your cunning publishers decided not to call me Daniel Finn but … Will Gatti! What larks, eh! (Old fashioned English for ‘fun’, in case you were wondering.)

Never mind. I promise (and yes, I always break my promises) I won’t leave it for so long before adding a bit more chat.

15th November 2009

Long Beach Long List

Should I be excited? Perhaps I should.

I got back from a wonderful holiday where I spent a great deal of time padding up and down a beach called Turtle Beach looking for turtles but the turtles were obviously on holiday. They were probably sitting at my desk writing my new book. I am not complaining. I expect turtles are really good at writing my stories…

I didn’t mean to mention turtles. What I meant to say was that the news I got when I came home was that ‘Two Good Thieves’ is on the long list for the Carnegie Award. I think that is pretty cheerful making but I do wonder if the long list is as long as Turtle Beach, because that is a very long beach.

Note to me: Find picture of beach. It looks a lot better than the photograph below.

12th October 2009

12th October 2009

A strange man, claiming to be the author, Will Gatti, was spotted in Hoxton Square last Friday holding a knockabout question and answer and funny voices session with Year 6 students from Whitmore School. The real Will Gatti claimed he could never look as daft as the man in this photograph and anyway, last Friday, he was in Mexico. Then he said maybe it wasn’t Mexico but somewhere like that.  We stopped talking to him because he suddenly ran off down the street to buy an almond croissant.

17th September 2009

And after The Two Good Thieves

I’ve spent the summer padding up and down wet and windy beaches on the west of Ireland trying to peer over to the other side of the Atlantic and see this little, scruffy fishing village, just down the coast from the city where Baz and Demi did all their running. It seemed to me that there was a story in that village, maybe one that tells us a little bit about where Fay came from, before she became the mother of thieves…

So that’s what Daniel is up to. The other one, Will, he’s pitching up to a festival in Hackney. It’s called the Starlit festival. Maybe he’ll see you there. I’m not sure if you’ll recognise him though because he says, he’ll be the one in disguise. It’s that Pimpernel thing again, isn’t it; everyone pretending to be someone else. It’s so confusing!

13th July 2009

Hello

Welcome to my website. Come in and have a snuffle around.

My new book Two Good Thieves has just been published. It always seems like an age between the time I have finished writing a story and when it finally emerges clad in its crisp, shiny jacket. My first signing session for the book was in Harrods which was good fun, especially since I was only about twenty paces from the pet department where I saw a puppy called a ‘cairnoodle’. What a name…

I am now in the west of Ireland writing a prequel to Two Good Thieves. In fact I am not sure that strictly speaking it is a prequel – more like a first cousin, but there you are, I am not so good at the technical terms. Anyway, thank God for the summer holidays – even if it is lashing with rain right now …