Lucky Break

Give a warm Pewter Wolf welcome to author (and pilot!) Rob Stevens. His latest book has just been released and it sounds like one that will make you laugh and cry in equal measure.

Leon's twin, Lenny, had the coolest imagination. The best. But Lenny died a year ago and Leon and his family haven't been the same since.

So when Leon meets Arnold at school, Leon's not sure what to make of the new boy: he doesn't understand jokes or gets sarcasm and can be completely blunt. But the two make an unlikely friendship and before long, the pair keep finding themselves in trouble. And within the trouble the two cause, is Arnold helping Leon comes to terms with Lenny's death and move forward with his life?

This sounds like one of the those books I could probably read super fast and go "Oh, it's tackled this and this and I like how he did that!", hence why I jumped at the chance to have Rob on the blog when Harriet at Andersen Press asked me.

Now, because Rob is a hugely busy pilot (he might be in the air, flying a plane RIGHT NOW! Now, as you're reading my tiny little post!), he wrote this for me. A small list of authors that write humour brilliant (writing comedy is hard because humour is so subjective, depending on the person listening/reading the joke!), but hopefully, you will read this list and check out these authors!

Anyway, before I go, wanna say thank you to Rob for writing this blog post, even though I know he's super busy and thank you to Harriet at Andersen for asking me if I wanted to be involved. Thank you!

Now, over to Rob and his fave funny authors!

My new novel, Lucky Break, tells the story of the rather chaotic friendship between two teenage boys. It is about friendship and family and, as well as being moving, I hope readers will find parts of it funny. Here are my five favourite writers who manage the tricky job of making us laugh out loud simply by their choice of words.

1. Roald Dahl – with his weird and wonderful characters and his uniquely inventive vocabulary he is often imitated but never equalled. And he was a pilot – like me!
2. Julia Donaldson – world famous for her wonderful story of the Gruffalo, but a favourite of mine for her (slightly) lesser-known Tyrannosaurus Drip. 
3. Louis Sachar – Holes is one of my favourite books of all time. A brilliant book about friendship, justice. And digging.
4. Anthony Horrowitz – well known for numerous adult books and of course the Alex Rider series but his Diamond Brothers books made my son howl with joy.
5. Nick Hornby – not a children’s author but it was his book, High Fidelity, that inspired me to try and write a book of my own, many years ago. I have reread it countless times and find it truer and funnier every time.