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August 22, 2009
When you're tired of London you're tired of life
Yesterday I did a tour of London with the Transworld/Random House London sales rep, David Foy. We visited seven bookshops, all very different, met lots of wonderful book sellers and banged on about HACKING TIMBUKTU and parkour (we even managed to avoid using the word Zeitgeist). I was going to blog about this, and then I happened to go on Facebook and saw that my cousin Tom has also been on a London tour with his friends recently, and his was EVEN more interesting. So here's the link to the photo album of Tom's Monopoly Tour. Full marks for thoroughness, Tom - heck, you even went to the Electric Works and the Free Parking!
Posted by sahelsteve at 01:19 PM
August 17, 2009
Everyone try and do the flag
So, in back gardens all over the UK yesterday, lads were trying to do this:
It's the 'flag' or 'hold' - a freerunning move perfected by Tim 'Livewire' Shieff and others. In his final run, Livewire elaborated on it by doing a 'walking flag' - walking up a drainpipe with his body horizontal. I reckon that's what swayed it for the judges and ensured that Livewire pipped Victor 'Showtime' Lopez to the post. Great TV - next year BBC1 should buy it.
The flag is also the move depicted on the cover of HACKING TIMBUKTU. I wouldn't have chosen this image myself, (a) because the flag belongs more to freerunning than to parkour and (b) because it looks like the character could be skydiving or just lying around. But now that Livewire has made the flag THE iconic freerunning image of 2009, I have no complaints :-)
Posted by sahelsteve at 09:54 AM
August 16, 2009
Livewire is the champion
Tim 'Livewire' Shieff from Derby has WON the World Freerun Championship 2009, beating contenders from all over the world. His winning run was amazing but isn't on Youtube yet due to copyright wranglings.
Here is a vid of Tim practising earlier in the year. Gotta love the handstands:
Posted by sahelsteve at 12:09 PM
August 14, 2009
World Freerun Championships
Ooh, it's the World Freerunning Championships in London tomorrow, in Trafalgar Square of all places. I guess the plinthers will have to miss a day. I'm a bit confused, because I had understood freerunning to be resolutely non-competitive, but there we are; if it exposes the sport to a wider audience it's got to be a good thing. And just look at what they're going to do with the venue - I'm no traceur, but I wouldn't say no to leaping around on this:
If you want to go to London and have a look-see, don't bother. All 8000 tickets to the event have sold out, and without that magic wristband you won't see a single kong vault. Will it be properly televised, I wonder...
Posted by sahelsteve at 11:40 AM
August 09, 2009
Back in England
Got back to England a couple weeks ago and went straight away on holiday with Charlie. Had a week by the seaside with our church followed by a week lapping up smugglers tales in Cornwall (Padstow). Whilst in Padstow we celebrated my mum's 60th birthday - HAPPY BIRTHDAY MUM!
Now Charlie and I have moved into a tiny cottage in the West Sussex countryside. The spare room / writing room is in the attic and looks over beautiful rolling fields - I can see the stands of Goodwood Racecourse in the far distance. Amazing place to write, and a wonderful temperature (Remember, I'm used to writing in 35 degree heat with sweat dripping off my elbows).
I have started work on another African thriller, provisionally entitled OUTLAW. Meanwhile the first reviews of Hacking Timbuktu are trickling in, and people seem to be liking it:
Hacking Timbuktu comes out on 3 September and can be pre-ordered on Amazon.