We hope you’ve had a suitably beastly year and are looking forward to more tales of Ulf and the RSPCB in 2010. We’ve had an incredible response to the first three books, and the good news is that book four in the series, The Jungle Vampire, is out in the States at the beginning of January, and you can order here. You can also catch up on any books you may have missed on this website.

Here in England, we’ve just spent the last few weeks writing in a remote house on a beach in the west of the country. Buffeted by high winds and driving rain, and almost struck by lightning, it’s been the perfect place to write book five in the series, which is set in a spooky ghost castle?

People have been emailing us with loads of questions recently, so we thought we’d answer a question each:

Are beasts real?
Matt: We like to think so. There have been countless sightings of strange creatures: the Loch Ness monster, giant squids, fairies at the bottom of the garden, and we think there are many undiscovered mysteries in the world. If beasts live anywhere, it’s probably in the wild places, the remote places and the secret places. But these places are under threat. Deforestation, global warming, urban sprawl and pollution all threaten the wild places. And if the wild places are allowed to disappear, then there will be nowhere for beasts to hide. The RSPCB take the conservation of beast habitats very seriously.

Where did you first meet?
Guy: I met Dave when we were just two years old. We lived at different ends of the same road and went to primary school together. This was a tiny school of about 40 pupils in Kent, England. Matt lived not far away, and went to an equally tiny school. We used to compete together in sports days and that’s where we all met. We then went to high school together and ended up in the same class. We’ve been friends ever since.

How do you write together as a three?
Dave: Three heads are better than one, and we think there are more ideas. For an idea to be in the books it has to please all three of us, so it’s got to be good. We?ve written four books in the series so far (Werewolf Versus Dragon, Sea Monsters and Other Delicacies, Bang Goes a Troll and The Jungle Vampire) so we start by sitting down together and choosing a lead beast that we want to know more about: dragons in Werewolf versus Dragon and sea monsters in Sea Monsters and Other Delicacies. Then we chat about the sort of things that could happen with that beast and come up with a storyline. We write different chapters and then link them up and see what we’ve got. After that, we do a lot of sitting side by side on sofas. The one in the middle gets the laptop on his knee and starts the re-writing, while the other two chip in. We write and rewrite between twenty to thirty times, but each time the book gets better.

Many thanks for your emails. We’ve really enjoyed reading about the beasts you?ve spotted, and looking at the pictures of beasts you’ve sent. Don?t forget to tell your friends about the Beastly Business books, and to send the BEASTLYBUSINESS.COM address to your friends.

With beastly wishes,

David Sinden, Matthew Morgan, Guy Macdonald

And, don’t miss the audio!

We hope you are all enjoying your summer vacation. We are currently researching zombies for a future book in the An Awfully Beastly Business series, so if any of you have ever met one, write and let us know what it was like.

Have you listened to the audio versions of the books yet? You can hear excerpts of the brilliant Gerard Doyle reading books one and two, Werewolf Versus Dragon and Sea Monsters and Other Delicacies, by going our publisher’s website (For Werewolf versus Dragon, CLICK HERE, for Sea Monsters and Other Delicacies, CLICK HERE)

Over here in the UK, we’ve just heard that Werewolf Versus Dragon has won the Hounslow Junior Book Award 2009. We’ve also just had news that the series is to be published in Japan, which means more than 20 countries are now publishing An Awfully Beastly Business, from as far apart as Spain and Russia, Sweden and Brazil. We’ve just had the new covers in from Germany and Norway, and they look fab.

Lastly, don’t forget that book three, Bang Goes a Troll, is coming out in September 2009. Make sure you reserve your copy now…

With beastly wishes,

David Sinden, Matthew Morgan, Guy Macdonald

The third exciting adventure in the An Awfully Beastly Business series is coming September 2009!

A very beastly welcome to the official home of An Awfully Beastly Business!

We are the authors of the books: David Sinden, Matthew Morgan and Guy Macdonald. We’ve been friends since we were children and have now joined forces to tell the world the incredible story of Ulf the werewolf and his friends. We decided to write An Awfully Beastly Business while imagining what it would be like for beasts to live in our world, and decided they would need our help to preserve and protect the wild, which is how the Royal Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Beasts (RSPCB) came about. The RSPCB is a rescue center for beasts and looks after many rare creatures, that include sick dragons, homeless trolls, and endangered fairies.

We hope you enjoy the books. Do watch out for more in the series.

With beastly wishes,
David Sinden, Matthew Morgan, Guy Macdonald