IKevin Brooks was born in Exeter and studied in Birmingham and London. He had a varied working life, with jobs in a crematorium, a zoo, a garage and a post office, before – happily – giving it all up to write books. Kevin is the author of Being, Black Rabbit Summer, Killing God and iBoy for Puffin. He now lives in North Yorkshire.
There’s a chance to win a copy of iBoy at this end of Kevin’s post, so make sure you enter! 
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I was in Athens when I first had the idea for iBoy. I’d been to an event at a book fair and was talking to someone (I can’t remember who) at a post-function dinner, and after yapping for some time about the book fair itself and what we were having for dinner, we eventually got round to the subject of Greek Gods and Greek myths. This in turn led to a discussion about superheroes in general, and one of us (again, I don’t remember who) came up with the point that there haven’t really been any British superheroes … at least, not any contemporary superheroes anyway. We argued for a while about whether or not King Arthur or Robin Hood could be counted as superheroes, and then we moved on to the question of what a contemporary British superhero might be called. Polite Man, was one suggestion. Don’t-Mind-Me Man another. Also in the running were Post Man, Milk Man, and Coal Man.
Back in my hotel room after the dinner, I couldn’t stop thinking about the idea of a contemporary British superhero, and I wondered if perhaps there might be a novel in it. Perhaps even a Young Adult novel. A superhero novel, instead of the usual comic book or graphic novel … could it work? A teenage superhero novel? A serious, thoughtful, realistic, no-holds-barred, 21st century, teenage superhero novel?
And as I was drifting off to sleep, trying to imagine what kind of powers such a superhero might have, it all just came to me in the proverbial flash. What could be more contemporary, more 21st century, than the powers of an iPhone? The Internet, Wi-Fi access, texts, mobile phones, web sites, hacking capability … the powers of instant communication, unlimited knowledge, and much much more.
Five minutes later, now wide awake, I had the first scene of the book.
Tom Harvey, a fifteen-year-old boy, is walking home from school one afternoon. Home for Tom is a high-rise towerblock on a council estate in South London. As he nears the entrance to the tower that day, a shout rings out from above, and as Tom looks up at the sound of the voice, an iPhone is thrown from the 30th floor …
And that’s when I saw it – that small black object, hurtling down through the bright blue sky towards me, and then …
CRACK!
A momentary flash of blinding pain …
And then nothing.
(Zero.)
The end of normality.
Thank you Kevin!
You can find out more about the Kevin via Goodreads
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GIVEAWAY!
[NOW CLOSED]
I have 5 (FIVE) copies of iBoy to giveaway away courtesy of Puffin. All you have to do to enter is leave a comment for the author and then fill out this form! – how easy is that!
There will be five winners: 4 (FOUR) from the UK and 1 (ONE) International. Ends Saturday 3rd July 8am GMT. Only one entry per person please – duplicate/multiple entries will be disqualified.
GOOD LUCK!
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Next up on ’10 Fun Days of YA Fiction’: Tomorrows ‘On My Wishlist’ post will be a special YA edition! There will also be a Hush Hush giveaway!
38 Comments
I love the cover of this one!
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This sounds like a very interesting book, I would love to read it.
seriousreader at live dot com
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Love the cover and the idea. It's definitely a timely topic!
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What a fascinating premise for a story. iBoy sounds like a wonderful book and I'd love to read it.
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i am a big fan of his work black rabbit summer is his first book that i ever read was in fact black rabbit summer, i went on to read being Kevin and Lucas which is a all time favorite of mine
thank you for the great contest!
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iBoy sounds really fun & interesting! Love the cover & thanks for the great post!
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Fantastic idea – can't wait to read it! Kevin always writes incredibly well & something different to the usual YA books.
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Lovely idea. Definitely sounds like something I would be interested in.
-Lauren
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I'm In, thank you so much!
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Hi, hope its OK to contact you here. would love to include your blog on our giveaway blog network: Giveaway Scout (http://www.giveawayscout.com). Have a look and if interested drop us a line on our contact form (http://www.giveawayscout.com/contact/). thanks, Josh
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Oh, please count me in. Thank you for the giveaway!
lag110@mchsi.com
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This sounds excellent I would love to read it.
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I love reading YA novels.. and I have never heard of Kevin Brooks – so now I will have to grab one of his novels to have a read. thanks
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Hi Kevin! Thanks so much for the background on iBoy. I LOVED Black Rabbit Summer… in fact I think it may have been the first novel with a male narrator that I genuinely liked. Whenever someone says that there isn't YA for teenage boys, I show them your novels… Thank you!
Sara @ The Hiding Spot
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I found your review to be intriguing and one that I would take pleasure in reading.
Thank you so much for hosting this giveaway.
steven(dot)capell(at)gmail(dot)com
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Sounds original! I want to read it, must be interesting to have technological superpower.
You made me think about British superheroes. The only one that came to my mind was 007.
Robin Hood is awesome XD
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Sounds interesting!
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This sounds like a very interesting book. I would love to read it
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It's lovely to know what truly inspire an author to write and come up with an idea for a book. I truly like the idea behind this one and the writing seems somewhat alluring. I would definitely like to read it!
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To read how a story take form is always interesting.
Thank you.
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Wow! The cover is so cool! I' d love to read this book!
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Nice look for the cover, and a good plot!
Fingers crossed!
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Sounds like a very original idea.
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It sounds really interesting. Clever!
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Hi Kevin book sound brilliant, excellent idea.
I lived in Greece for a while so can I ask what you had for your dinner in Athens
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iBoy and iPhones falling from the sky? Ok, 30th floor. This is something really different!
The opening sentences captured my interest completely. I'd love to read the book and follow iBoy's (Tom) adventures!
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I would love to win this, I think my gadget-mad 13 year old son would love it!
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What about James Bond? Does he count as a superhero?
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Looks like a good read. Would love to win a copy.
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I love the title!
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Love to read the book
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This sounds like a great read….. would love to read it all!
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This book looks like a fab read!
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I love the title and its concept… how the the use of one little i and then a capital letter now suggests something else entirely.!
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sounds like one i would like to read.
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I am always looking for new ideas for books to read so thank you for giving me a new option.
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+JMJ+
What an amazing description! It sounds like Percy Jackson with a digital edge. I definitely want to win a copy, but even if I don't, I'm glad to have heard about this book! =D
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The power of the internet?
Best.Power.Ever.
It sounds really amazing and I like the cover.
I sooo want to read it.
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