Bookwitch

When Steve Cole’s mobile rings it’s a Dalek saying “exterminate”. Worryingly, there also appears to be a Dalek at the other end that Steve needs to get rid of. Or maybe it’s a trick. After five or six hours in Steve’s company I can report that next week’s episode of Doctor Who will be scary. And he met David Tennant recently and got to go in the Tardis.

Steve’s been travelling the country talking about his new books about the CIA. That’s Cows In Action, to you, and I’d say it’s pretty much Doctor Who, but about cows, and for younger readers. There’s the enemy, the FBI, or Fed-up Bull Institute. Time travelling cow agents. Whatever next? There are two books out now, The Ter-moo-nators and The Moo-my’s Curse. More to follow. The books are short and fun and crammed full of corny puns. I suspect they will also teach readers about history, on the quiet. The first one’s about Henry VIII and Anne of Cleves. There’s a lot of moo-ing going on, and poor Steve will get a sore throat if he keeps moo-ing his way around the country like this. Though I do feel he’s got his cows and bulls somewhat mixed up, as there are male cows and female bulls. Never mind.

For anyone who’s got the urge to go and buy a CIA book or two I suggest you get on with it. I understand they are sold out at the publishers after only a week.

Older readers will enjoy the books about Jonah Wish, written by Stephen Cole. He’s a bit schizofrenic with his two personalities. He has to remember who he is before he signs a book. Not to mention cheques. Anyway, Jonah is a delinquent teenage computer expert who travels the world getting into all sorts of adventures with his four companions and their horrible boss. I read The Aztec Code earlier this week, and it’d be perfect for boys in their early to mid teens. The age when girls’ bras are of great interest.

For more action adventure Stephen also writes some of the Doctor Who books, most of which appear to have made their way to our house. And it’s Daughter who reads them, so it’s not strictly boys only stuff.

I’d like Steve/Stephen’s books as audio books, read by himself. He does some great readings from the books, with voices and accents and body language reminiscent of David Tennant. Though that, obviously, wouldn’t show in an audio book.

Steve has come a long way since Death on the 747, at the age of fourteen. That was a few years ago. He left London and his noisy neighbours to write in Oxfordshire instead. Now he blames not writing, on his son jumping on him.