The Great Pumpkin

Halloween is approaching - one of my most favourite times of the year, and to celebrate - and to ease my spinning brain as it careers towards Super Maxwell 4 - I will start publishing a new Trevor Smethurst story next month.
Trevor and the Time Thieves, Part 1, will be available from Friday, September 30 and will follow the adventure of our favourite inept superhero Trevor Smethurst as he lands back on Virporta Island with Bob the Dragon.
But time is out of sync, an evil force is loose on the island, and Trevor is rapidly running out of tomato sauce - can he save the world, and, more importantly, get some nice ketchup for his chips before the world ends - again?
I will start publishing next week, with the full story available just in time for Halloween - in the meantime, keep away from black cats...and brown sauce.
Tony

Three Falling

The last full stop is stopped, the last comma is commed, and the big question I face now is - where does Maxwell Jones goes from here?
This morning I handed Super Maxwell and the Isle of the Dead over to my intrepid proofer, DD, so all that remains now is to check that everyone's eyes are the same colour throughout the three books, Magister's office is still where I said it was in The Last Heroes, and I haven't accidentally brought someone back I killed in book 2 - and then we're ready to roll.
Effectively Super Maxwell 2 and 3 were one story; so where I am now is that Maxwell and Billy on the verge of all new adventures, and a whole new cast of (possible) friends and (potential) enemies ... I have an idea what will happen. It's a strong idea, but it might not be the final idea.
To give you a couple of examples of what I mean ... when you finally read Isle of the Dead you will meet a character called the Forever Man. When I began to write this book the Forever Man was an entirely different character from the one he was when I finished, and will now have a major, major impact on our characters' futures. Another character - I won't tell you who - dies at the end of Isle of the Dead. I had no intention of killing that character at the start, but by the end, it seemed inevitable.
But, what really excites me is the cast of wild cards who appeared in Isle of the Dead - characters with no apparent affiliation to any of the good or bad guys we've met so far. What will they do next? And how will it effect Maxwell's universe?
As soon as I know, I'll let you know!
We are now, officially, living in interesting times...
Tony

A picture tells a thousand words...but I don't

So this is John Gallagher's final cover design for Isle of the Dead - wonderful. Now we're entering the endgame for the third Super Maxwell book I'm going to be working on some other stuff and formulating Maxwell 4 ... But effectively 3 is the closure of a particular story arc for Maxwell - no big cliff hanger on this one. Well, perhaps a small cliff hanger...

4, 5 and 6 will see a new story arc with Maxwell and Billy having to deal with a pesky immortal, the First Heroes, and ... well, that would be telling - But didn't you wonder what happened to the Shades from book 2? They've been very busy...

I'm always tempted to give too much away, so I'll zip my lips, more soon...

Tony

It's all in the detail...

John has sent me the latest version of the Isle of Dead cover today - fantastic, isn't it? There is some wonderful detail here - you can, for instance, see the Watchmen Academy logo on Maxwell's blazer, the street lamp in the alley below, the Spiker ripping a slate from the roof, and - brilliantly - the towers of the Watchmen Academy in the distance. Not at all how I would have imagined them, but seeing your ideas filtered through another artist's imagination is amazing.
Keep your powder dry, Maxwell 3 will soon be here...
Tony Kerr

Back to the future - again

Though editing work is still continuing on Isle of the Dead, and will be for some time (interrupted by a modest holiday in a nearby forest) I am already thinking about Super Maxwell 4 - The Crimson King.
What can I tell you without giving too much away? Well, the book will be set on at least 3 planets - a pirate planet (which at some point in the future I plan to feature in another book, 'Captain Farr') - Earth (ie Virporta Island and also, probably London) - and Mars ... and maybe the Moon too - you'll have to wait and see on that one!
Several of the things I have promised myself faithfully on pain of death is that Billy and Maxwell will undertake this next adventure together; you will finally find out what really happened when the Eternal Engine exploded; you will discover where the Long Men really come from and why they came to exist; and I will definately, definately, definately not be writing a single word of Maxwell 4 until January 1, 2012.
Well, probably not, anyway.
In the meanwhile while the brain juices are stewing and I check my directions in Realmpedia I will be aiming to get the Super Maxwell website up and running, I will (definately!) be writing at least another two Trevor stories and I will be attempting - yet again - to finish my long-cherished unfinished project, the non-Maxwell book The Tell-Tale Boy.
I will, of course, keep you up to speed without giving too much away, and I promise faithfully that I will start Tweeting again very soon - you can find me on Twitter @Virporta.

Tony Kerr

Cola Zero, Andy Murray and a short hiatus

I did say, a couple of days ago, that I would be writing "The End" within an hour - I didn't quite manage that, but Super Maxwell and the Isle of the Dead, 1st draft, was finished at 5.10pm today (June 29). There are a few reasons for this...
First of all, a most seriously, the place I spend most of my time writing in has a massive TV screen in it. Most of the time this isn't a problem as I generally sit behind the screen, and even when I'm not it's usually the news that's on with the sound off. But today it was Andy Murray's match at Wimbledon. I love tennis, so this really put me off - but I persevered, dear reader, thinking of you I turned my back to the screen and drank a caffeine-heavy drink and carried on.
The other reason, of course, is that even though you might have a pretty good idea of how, when and where a story will end you never quite know how - well now I do know, page 455 with the word "string". It was heck of a journey!
But for you, of course, the journey hasn't yet begun - but I can promise you that it is Maxwell and Billy's most thrilling, terrifying and heartbreaking story so far. I'll let you know how its going - but, for me, this is how it ended...


Tony Kerr

In living colour

I am so close to finishing Isle of the Dead now that I can practically smell the flowers on top of Arcania Hill - it's September 11th at the end of the book, just as the flowers are blossoming, and an ideal time for the whole of the village to head for the hill for a communal barbecue! (Honestly, I almost live in Virporta Village!). I am perhaps an hour away from writing the words "The End" - but then, of course begins the whole process of rewrites, reconsideration, regrets and, hopefully, a sense of relief!
Still, to keep both you and I going until then I will be pinging you some tasty treats - more Trevor, of course, lost chapters from Isle of the Dead, some more entries for Realmpedia - and here's the first, John Gallagher's first rough colour rendering of the cover.

Monster - Maxwell - rooftops - clues?! Come on, you should know by now you'll get no spoilers from me...
Tony Kerr