DO call me Shirley!
Wooooooo!
Tomorrow is World Book Day, and the publication day of my new book, Boss of the Underworld: Shirley Vs The Green Menace!!!
It’s a full-colour graphic novel for readers aged 7+, and I’m excited about it! As I’ve mentioned here, making this was a big challenge for me, the longest thing I’ve yet written. I went down many a blind alley, and because I haven’t yet found a process that doesn’t involve overly detailed, fairly finished roughs and writing, those alleys can be loooong before I realise they’re dead ends! But I learned a lot, and am really happy with how the finished book has come out.
Over on Instagram the main characters, Shirley and George, have been busy on a press tour. First they appeared for a press junket…
Then they went on Letterman…
And finally they appeared on Oprah, for George’s Tom Cruise sofa moment…
They HAVE been a busy, hardworking girl-and-cockroach duo!
I’m extremely grateful to Rachel Wade, Editorial Director, and Jen Alliston, wonderful Senior Designer and comics-fan at Hachette for commissioning this book, their faith in it, and their expert and imaginative guidance throughout. Thank you both so much!
If you’d like to order Boss of the Underworld for any 7+ readers in your life or indeed yourself, I’d be thrilled! Available from all your usual bookshops, and especially available from friends of The Repository, Shelf Editions and Storytellers Inc.
Thank you for reading, and happy World Book Day for tomorrow!





















Shirley and George's press tour...GENIUS! Looking forward to read the book.
SUCH a brilliant idea Tor.