It's nearly Christmas...

Hooray and Happy Christmas to anyone who’s reading this!

And I’ve had a lovely piece of news.  Downside Up has been shortlisted for the Worcestershire Teen Book Award.  I’m ever so chuffed!  And I’m in really good company too.  The full shortlist is this:-

• Anthony Horowitz - Russian Roulette
• Hayley Long - Downside up
• Patrick Ness - More than this
• Annabel Pitcher - Ketchup Clouds
• Jonathan Stroud - Lockwood and Co: The screaming staircase   
• Rick Yancy - The 5th wave

Anyway, to celebrate this little bit of loveliness and also because it’s Christmas, I’ve decided to give away a couple of signed books.  Downside Up and What’s Up with Jody Barton?  If you’d like a chance to win these, you just need to email me via the contact form on my website with this exact message:

Hi Hayley, I hear Worcestershire is totally where it’s at.

Do this by midnight Sunday 15^th December please.

(p.s That’s the iBunny in the picture.  I actually made those antlers for her.  I actually did.)

'Downside Up' is HERE :-)

Hey hey hey, what's so special about July 4th?

Is it that it's Independence Day in the USA?  A day for all Americans to celebrate the adoption of the Declaration of Independence and their total freedom from Great Britain in 1776?

Maybe.

Or is it that in 1862, a rather odd bloke called Lewis Carroll invented an even odder character called Alice to amuse his young friend Alice Liddell?

Might be.

Or perhaps it's that in 1865, the first edition of  'Alice's Adventures in Wonderland' was published?

Definitely maybe.

Or is that my fifth book for teenagers, 'Downside Up' is officially in the shops?

Yaaaaaay! Too right it is!

Although, actually it's all of the above.  And it's particularly interesting and spooky that 'Downside Up' shares a birthday with 'Alice in Wonderland' because Lewis Carroll and Alice have rather a massive influence on my story.  If you read it, you'll see what I mean.

So... to celebrate I'm going to do a little competition give-away!

To be in with a chance of winning a signed copy of 'Downside Up' and a beautiful fancy edition* of 'Alice's Adventures in Wonderland,' all you have to do is drop me an email via the contact form on my website which says:

Hey Hayley, Too right I fancy winning those books!

And do this before the end of July.

The winner will be chosen at random and notified early August.

Bingo Bango!

*Don't get one of them on a Kindle!

The Next Book

... is out in July.  That's ages away.  But it has a cover already - which I think is pretty damn fine.  Not only does it feature a flying pig but it also features upside down clouds with upside down rain.  And now - because you've  seen the cover -  I'm thinking you may as well see what's written on page one.  Then again, I shouldn't really; it hasn't had the final clearance for take-off yet so the words could change a bit.... But...but... it's only me showing you, isn't it?  Where's the harm in that.  It's not like I'm breaking the Official Secrets Act or anything.  And nobody else has to know I've shown it to you....

It can be our secret.

So anyway - leaving aside the fact that it looks a bit wobbly and weird because I've had to jiggle stuff around to fit in with Blogger's boring formatting - the first page of my fifth book for Pan Macmillan is going to look quite a lot like this:  Shhhhhh......

.... and that's your lot for now :-)