Drone Racer - review
In 1552 there was merely a window, no books and no drones...
But we knew if we took Andy Briggs to Hutton Grammar and indeed anywhere, he'd make them want to read and be inspired to live the best lives they can, he has a simple ethos, Drone On about wanting and achieving your dreams and work hard, look for the openings and it will happen. I've known Andy since he was a young up and coming author, his early foray into fast fiction was Hero.com and Villain.net and they have just relaunched, 10 years on!
Oh, there was a real drone, school flew it over the hall and Andy caught it on his palm it was amazing to see... I'd never seen one, but I am old!
Andy loves gadgets and gizmos and adrenaline and adventure, we did a massive tour for 2012 and the Centenary of Tarzan, we literally broke records and somewhere in my archives are photos which we are working on for a gallery. His work with the Bristol Zoo Ape Foundation as available on his website is amazing, it brings tears and laughter every time we see it and donations are made from every Tarzan book which is phenomenal.
He then went Super Tech with The inventory a breath taking series of Mission Impossible with gadgets galore and jet setting travel, he was lucky he went places to do the research and it really shows in the flow of the plots.
He has also dabbled in Films, he now is a scriptwriter and actual Producer of several and his comic of King was partly use for the Peter Jackson film script. I know he's worked on dark horror pix and older readers can ask him more...
His new comics are fab, there is MEAT and Madison Dark recently out and he actually has a fab Adult novel CTRL S due in November with Orion Books, a sort of Ready Player One type thing, we can't wait.
So, drones, some have low opinions, as it goes the wrong thing in the wrong hands is just that, wrong and we've seen it on the news, but...
Andy also has seen what wonderful things they do, delivering vaccines, pizzas even too and ones that can become taxis and avoid the rush hour too. For search and rescue and photography they are quite special.
He also has seen them be raced, as I have too now! we were invited to the NEC for the National Drone Show in December and it was quite eyeopening. We met the TV gadget show guy, and watched 3 world champions compete, well we sort of saw flashes of light and heard a noise, it was unbelievably fast, they do a circuit in under 9 seconds it is astonishing and the good thing is... it's all ages and both sexes together.
Andy's latest bestseller is Drone Racer, we sold over 1000 on tour in 2 weeks and another 400 when we did schools for more demand...
It is a sensational book, it has real involvement and emotion, it deals with difficult situations and friendship and loss, it also deals with action and danger and takes you inside the headset of the pilot and the tech crew and the sheer scale of the now huge arenas they race in.
The kids in our story are normal, they hang out and fly their ordinary drone in car parks and try and win local comps and a bit of cash, they are pretty good as it goes, mainly as their tech girl is a star.
But, bad luck comes, they break their drone and are skint... why not 'find parts?' So, they sneak into the scrap yard after hours, avoid the rabid guard dog... well fierce anyway... and they fall into a room under the detritus of metal and find... a super drone, one that has AI and can talk, not Alexa talk, real talk.
The only problem is... who lost it?
We go on a stunning adventure, it is nail biting and thrilling and you want to fly. There are plenty of mysteries within the plot, some superb characters and a drone we all want. Vanta is more than the ye can see.
Andy will be back on tour soon and certainly in November for his adult debut, he's on social media and well worth following.
Get your kids reading Andy now and then you can join in when his new book is out, he has a new 9-13 year olds thriller on the way too.
Andy works tirelessly to make sure as many children get to find out about books, stories and ideas and achieving their own dreams.
We went to 10 schools in and around Pendle c/o Anita Vine the excellent LRC manager at the college, then we did Bolton and Preston organised by Anne Burns the superb Children's Librarian from Bolton. Then Nikki from Halton got us into Widnes Rugby stadium for a huge event and we also did the amazing Story House in Chester.
If you pop back to the gallery soon, we'll load some amazing pictures up...
But we knew if we took Andy Briggs to Hutton Grammar and indeed anywhere, he'd make them want to read and be inspired to live the best lives they can, he has a simple ethos, Drone On about wanting and achieving your dreams and work hard, look for the openings and it will happen. I've known Andy since he was a young up and coming author, his early foray into fast fiction was Hero.com and Villain.net and they have just relaunched, 10 years on!
Oh, there was a real drone, school flew it over the hall and Andy caught it on his palm it was amazing to see... I'd never seen one, but I am old!
Andy loves gadgets and gizmos and adrenaline and adventure, we did a massive tour for 2012 and the Centenary of Tarzan, we literally broke records and somewhere in my archives are photos which we are working on for a gallery. His work with the Bristol Zoo Ape Foundation as available on his website is amazing, it brings tears and laughter every time we see it and donations are made from every Tarzan book which is phenomenal.
He then went Super Tech with The inventory a breath taking series of Mission Impossible with gadgets galore and jet setting travel, he was lucky he went places to do the research and it really shows in the flow of the plots.
He has also dabbled in Films, he now is a scriptwriter and actual Producer of several and his comic of King was partly use for the Peter Jackson film script. I know he's worked on dark horror pix and older readers can ask him more...
His new comics are fab, there is MEAT and Madison Dark recently out and he actually has a fab Adult novel CTRL S due in November with Orion Books, a sort of Ready Player One type thing, we can't wait.
So, drones, some have low opinions, as it goes the wrong thing in the wrong hands is just that, wrong and we've seen it on the news, but...
Andy also has seen what wonderful things they do, delivering vaccines, pizzas even too and ones that can become taxis and avoid the rush hour too. For search and rescue and photography they are quite special.
He also has seen them be raced, as I have too now! we were invited to the NEC for the National Drone Show in December and it was quite eyeopening. We met the TV gadget show guy, and watched 3 world champions compete, well we sort of saw flashes of light and heard a noise, it was unbelievably fast, they do a circuit in under 9 seconds it is astonishing and the good thing is... it's all ages and both sexes together.
Andy's latest bestseller is Drone Racer, we sold over 1000 on tour in 2 weeks and another 400 when we did schools for more demand...
It is a sensational book, it has real involvement and emotion, it deals with difficult situations and friendship and loss, it also deals with action and danger and takes you inside the headset of the pilot and the tech crew and the sheer scale of the now huge arenas they race in.
The kids in our story are normal, they hang out and fly their ordinary drone in car parks and try and win local comps and a bit of cash, they are pretty good as it goes, mainly as their tech girl is a star.
But, bad luck comes, they break their drone and are skint... why not 'find parts?' So, they sneak into the scrap yard after hours, avoid the rabid guard dog... well fierce anyway... and they fall into a room under the detritus of metal and find... a super drone, one that has AI and can talk, not Alexa talk, real talk.
The only problem is... who lost it?
We go on a stunning adventure, it is nail biting and thrilling and you want to fly. There are plenty of mysteries within the plot, some superb characters and a drone we all want. Vanta is more than the ye can see.
Andy will be back on tour soon and certainly in November for his adult debut, he's on social media and well worth following.
Get your kids reading Andy now and then you can join in when his new book is out, he has a new 9-13 year olds thriller on the way too.
Andy works tirelessly to make sure as many children get to find out about books, stories and ideas and achieving their own dreams.
We went to 10 schools in and around Pendle c/o Anita Vine the excellent LRC manager at the college, then we did Bolton and Preston organised by Anne Burns the superb Children's Librarian from Bolton. Then Nikki from Halton got us into Widnes Rugby stadium for a huge event and we also did the amazing Story House in Chester.
If you pop back to the gallery soon, we'll load some amazing pictures up...