Keith Mansfield

STOP PRESS!

Due to unexpected problems, Harrods have had to postpone today’s book signing. It will probably now take place this coming Saturday (26 July) from 2.30pm.

Massive apologies for the late notice - watch this space for more details.

There’s a little shop in the Knightsbridge area of London famous for only selling the best quality of anything. Harrods have opened their doors and invited me to come and sign copies of Johnny Mackintosh and the Spirit of London this coming Wednesday.

If you want to come along and have a copy signed personally by me to you (bring your own if you’ve already bought it elsewhere) or you just have questions about the book(s), then I’d be delighted to meet you. From 3pm onwards (quite how long “onwards” means I’m not sure, but I’d hope it’s an hour or two) I’ll be in the children’s Waterstone’s inside Harrods.

I have been told they’ll make announcements on the store’s PA system, so if you’re not sure exactly where in the overall shop that is, just follow the stampeding crowds. Also, I hope this means that you can have a copy inside one of the famous green Harrods bags, but maybe it will be a (still fabulous) Waterstone’s one.

As well as being a great boost for the book, this event’s encouraged me to create a “Meet the author” page over at JohnnyMackintosh.com. If you can’t come along on Wednesday but would like to say hello another time, keep checking back as I add more details of where and when I’ll be over the coming months.

Another night, another visit to Somerset House, but however often you’re there it’s impossible to take such a beautiful venue for granted. This time it was to see one of the UK’s best live acts. Armchair music lovers may be surprised to hear this, but The Feeling rock. Seriously. I must have seen them a dozen times now and they’ve never disappointed.

The first time, unexpectedly, was part of an XFM Winter Wonderland gig at the Brixton Academy. As the boys came on stage that day (in the middle of the annual Indie music fest for Shelter), I confess I feared for them. The audience practically turned their collective back and paid not the slightest bit of attention – they’d come to see Kasabian or Tenacious D or whoever it was and the sound of chatter from the floor threatened to dominate the guitars on stage. It lasted about a minute until everyone realized they were experiencing something special and, by the time we reached Video Killed the Radio Star (the band’s traditional final song), the audience was eating out of their hands.

Another reason I’ve seen them quite so often is that they’re so goddam generous to their fans. Not a month goes by without a message pinging into my mailbox offering me free tickets to a Feeling gig at one special secret location or another. One time I even went along to the soundcheck. Singer Dan Gillespie Sells was sitting at the piano his brother built taking requests when I piped up to suggest REO Speedwagon’s comeback classic, Can’t Fight this Feeling. Later, I told him I’d intended him to change the lyrics from “this” to “The”. However much people may think they’re not cool or the music’s just that bit too poppy, go and see them and you’ll be unable to fight The Feeling any more.

The Feeling's Somerset House setlist

At Somerset House they showed their fan-friendly natures once again by allowing one of the throng up on stage to propose to his girlfriend. Eventually she joined him and (I think) accepted, but she didn’t look best pleased. The proposal bisected Never Be Lonely, just one of many highlights including the lovely Rosé and incomparable Sewn. Fan’s favourite I Love it when you Call ended the pre-encore section. It’s always noticeable how much fun the band look to be having on stage – and they’re not afraid of throwing in the occasional cover either. Before they finished we were treated to an unexpected rendition of Aha’s Take on Me that, had we been indoors, would have brought the house down.

Next, before the encore, the boys went all British Sea Power, processing through the crowd wearing military uniforms and beating giant drums. It didn’t quite work, but with a bit more practice it could become a new favourite part of the show. Finally, as I shouted, “Bring on the Buggles”, in no time at all they were back on stage, epaulettes discarded, singing, “I heard you on the wireless back in fifty two”.

(Apologies for the sound quality in the video - Richard’s bass always seems to come out at the resonant frequency of my phone’s microphone. Every other band is fine.)

If you enjoy live music and haven’t yet been to one of their gigs, treat yourself – you won’t be disappointed.

Although I go to gigs every week, it’s been ages since I shared the experience on my blog. Sadly, you’ve even missed out on such delights as my old Oxford pals Radiohead coming to East London to visit and play Victoria Park.

A couple of nights ago, though, saw the hugely underrated We Are Scientists (W.A.S.) play Somerset House. I’m a scientist – they may be scientists – so I feel they deserve a writeup. It’s very fashionable nowadays for artists to try and weave some science into their books to try to make them more appealing, but it’s still rare for scientists to do the same with their art. So full marks to the boys from Berkeley (though now New York) for their mid-set discussion of the metric system.

As it happens, back in the 1990s NASA lost its Mars Climate Orbiter because one team was working in metric and another imperial units, so the poor spacecraft didn’t know whether it was coming or going and never made it to the Red Planet.

I love it when you get banter on stage. It’s something American bands do so much better than we Brits. Another thing in their favour is that W.A.S. have a lead singer called Keith, which instantly raises them to supercool status. Somerset House on a balmy summer evening is about the best venue you can wish for, but I first saw W.A.S. at my other London favourite, the Brixton Academy. That day they opened with spotlights on the audience and Phil Collins’ Against All Odds being sung by the waiting crowd, before closing (including all the roadies up on stage) with a cover of Boyz II Men’s End of the Road. Coupled with all the great songs in between, it was a magnificent gig.

Last night’s was fabulous too. Sadly I missed the start and the sound men, as well as not providing a setlist to aid this review, didn’t know if Phil Collins had been used to open the set. Good to see they were paying attention. That said, the sound and the songs were good as ever, played against a wonderful backdrop.

I think it was Chris who said, towards the end of the gig, “We have truly ushered you from day into night – and I don’t mean that metaphorically.” Somerset House is so beautiful as the sun goes down on a gorgeous summer evening that it’s impossible not to comment on it. You’d think it’s near impossible to play a bad gig there, but I’ve seen a few. W.A.S. was one of the best. Here’s my film of how they finished the show with Great Escape:

Reviews and articles about my first novel are beginning to be written, so I’ve created a space at JohnnyMackintosh.com where you can read everything together. So far the book’s been very well received. A few highlights are:

“The story is great … The characterisation in this book is fantastic and Mansfield paints some exceptionally believable, lovable and fun characters. The writing is engaging and accomplished. Mansfield succeeds in cutting out all the parts that children tend to skip over. It’s reminiscent of Rowling, yet still maintains an individual style … Johnny Mackintosh is a great read.”

The Bookbag

“Move over Harry Potter, there’s a new kid on the block - Johnny Mackintosh makes his mark in the first instalment of an explosive intergalactic trilogy.”

East End Life

“Mansfield has taken created a brilliantly original and multi-dimensional story which I recommend whole-heartedly.”

Amazon Vine Voice

Yesterday I took a train to Crystal Palace (the fresh air suburb) to visit a brilliant independent bookshop called The Bookseller Crow on the Hill. It was heaving, partly because Mousehunter author Alex Milway was in there signing copies of his new book, The Curse of Mousebeard, but also because it’s clearly just a great place for kids in the local community to go.

Alex (occasionally sporting a mousebeard of his own) signed seemingly dozens of copies, as well as giving masterclasses in the art of drawing mice. Sadly, despite his expert tuition, I don’t think I’ll ever be in a position to illustrate the Johnny Mackintosh stories. A children’s author’s got to know his limitations…

Alex (Mousebeard) Milway

The brain, apparently the fourth greatest mouse of all time, was also on hand in the shop window to lure people in. If you’d like a signed copy of The Curse of Mousebeard or its prequel, The Mousehunter, and you’re not near Crystal Palace, you can probably buy them from The Bookseller Crow’s online store.

I’m fascinated by the process of turning a book into a film. Dan Weldon’s just written the screenplay for his mother’s 1980 novel, Puffball. Although it’s difficult to believe I’m now in such distinguished company as Fay Weldon, she’s a fellow Quercus author and we had a lovely chat at the preview of the film on Friday night at The Rich Mix. She then joined Dan, actress Rita Tushingham and legendry director Nic Roeg (the man who made a film featuring Albert Einstein, Marilyn Monroe, Joe Diaggio and Joseph MacCarthy and still labelled it “Insignificance”) on stage for a Q&A, followed by a sneak preview.

Puffball opens with a city couple beginning a major renovation project at an unspecified rural Irish location. For the generation brought up on Grand Designs, the sense of doom in the audience is immediately palpable. Never fear though – main character Liffey (played by Kelly Reilly who has a great line in hats) is both architect and project manager. With that and a large crew of Polish builders, even Kevin McCloud might expect the build to run smoothly.

Naturally, it doesn’t. That’s mainly due to the mystical forces at work in the area, focused on the thousand-year-old Odin’s stone, a mystical site so powerful even Liffey and her boyfriend Richard (Oscar Pearce) get carried away allowing their passions to get the better of them. Though not without using a condom – after all, she is an architect. But modern rubber proves no match for ancient magic and soon Lifey discovers she’s pregnant.

Roeg’s small (and impressive) cast, is largely divided into warring pairs. Rita Tushingham’s Molly clearly has “gifts”, but they’re weighed against those of her grand daughter Audrey (Leona Igoe). It’s Miranda Richardson, Audrey’s mother Mabs, whose jealously of Liffey and desperation for a son lie at the heart of the locals’ resentment of Liffey (whose boyfriend Richard comes to blows with Mabs’ husband Tucker played by William Houston). The local doctor (Pat Deery) is good as gold and helpful to all, but his assistant, Mabs’ sister Carol (Tina Kellegher) makes sure everyone knows what’s going on at the surgery. It seems that to get on with your partner in the film you have to share the same DNA, and only Audrey’s younger sisters, the twins, live in harmony. Cleverly, having foreign builders means they don’t need to be involved, so the odd one out in the film, the one character able to control his destiny and come and goes at his own choosing, is Donald Sutherland’s Lars.

Lars is head of Liffey’s architectural practice, but his supposed Scandinavian roots imply there may be more to him than that – is he the modern day personification of Odin on Earth? The twinkle in his eye as he gazes at Liffey suggest he’s had more to do with her pregnancy than might first appear, even if the fatherhood of the unborn child is the main source of tension throughout the film.

By the end the house is finished. I don’t think Kevin McCloud would be much of a fan – it lacks the soul and stamp of individuality that any grand design needs to be carried off successfully. Might the same be said of the film? Maybe, but I’d say the jury’s still out on Puffball. And I would like to read the book to see how Dan developed his mother’s work. Roeg’s films have a habit of growing in importance as you slowly digest all that surrounds them, much like the giant puffball mushrooms of the title (which feature a little too heavily in the film’s scene-setting moments). I don’t know if they’re edible or not, but I’m going to chew this one over for a while before reaching a firm conclusion.

According to the European Space Agency (ESA) website, they received 8413 applications to become astronauts, of which mine was one. Considering they’ve not recruited for 16 years, I’m surprised the number’s not higher, but certainly not complaining.

The French are keenest to leave this island Earth, with 1860 of those, edging out the German’s 1798. While you might expect only a handful of candidates from Luxembourg (14), it’s strange to see only 35 Danes apply. I’m apparently one of 822 Brits – of whom almost 700 are men.

How can it be that so few people are keen to see this view for themselves?

Image courtesy of NASA Johnson Space Center (NASA-JSC)

What happens now? ESA have said they’ll contact me by early August to say if I pass to the next stage – a whole week of psychometric and medical tests. When I’ve taken tests like these before, the response normally comes back saying “you’re the sort of person who enjoys taking psychometric tests”, which is very true, so I’m even more eager to get through.

How many readers realize that it’s perfectly possible to travel in time? Physicists have known ever since Einstein published his Special Theory of Relativity in 1905, but somehow the word still hasn’t leaked out to the general public.

Over at JohnnyMackintosh.com, I’ve created a new section called The Science of Johnny Mackintosh. So far there are only a couple of entries, but more will follow and, if you want to know how to travel a million years into the future, I promise the information is all there. It’s just we don’t know how to bring you back.

Back in 2004, Chris Anderson wrote a piece for Wired magazine on the Long Tail. In an age of online retailing, your shop space becomes effectively unlimited so anything and everything can be made available for sale that way. Johnny Mackintosh and the Spirit of London can be bought on the web from all manner of retailers, but over the weekend I took to the high street to see how widely it was available there.

Hatchards new fiction display

Hatchards on Piccadilly had half a dozen copies of Johnny out on a table displaying new children’s books. As a writer you don’t travel anywhere without favourite pens for jotting down the flash of inspiration that arrives when you least expect it, so at the invitation of the shop I was able to whisk it out and add my moniker to the title page of each edition.

Books Etc Broadgate Circle

I was delighted to find two copies of Johnny in Broadgate Circle’s Books Etc. In Chapter 2 Johnny travels through Liverpool St Station so it’s lovely that other people can also read about him there.

Blackwell Charring Cross Road

Blackwell on Charring Cross Road also had two copies in their Children’s Hardback Fiction section. This area is the unofficial bookselling centre of London so a big thank you to the store for making it available in the very heart of London’s book traders.

Waterstone's Piccadilly

Last, but absolutely not least, thank you to those lovely people at Waterstone’s who had a display of eight on the shelves of their flagship Piccadilly store and also four at the Gower Street branch (which, again, I was asked to sign). On publication day itself, I saw that there were a couple of copies at the Leadenhall Market branch, but the first shop I went into this time, on New Street near Covent Garden, is quite a small one. Without me having to do it myself to try to get my book noticed, there was Johnny Mackintosh already facing out on the shelves attracting attention with its beautiful cover. Over-excited, I went up to the Bookseller and thanked him, at which point he asked me to sign the copy. He was still busy placing the sticker on the front cover when a particularly discerning customer came along and bought it off him.

Waterstone's New Row

Waterstone's Gower Street

It wasn’t all great news, but of course it’s very early days. Hopefully, Borders, Foyles and WH Smith (who have three outlets in Liverpool St Station) will be stocking up soon, and it is wonderful to know there are copies available out there if people do want to buy them. It’s not just London either - friends scattered around the country are also reporting Johnny Mackintosh sightings.

If you do go into a bookshop and can’t see the book on the shelves, please ask behind the counter for it. The more often people hear the name, the more likely they are to start stocking up. And if you let me know, I promise I’ll sent lots of badges as a reward.