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Get ready for Spontaneous Stories

I’ve got a brand new session planned for the Awesome Arts festival this year called SPONTANEOUS STORIES.

Bring your weirdest and wackiest ideas for stories, because we’ll be mashing them up into the funniest Franken-tale you’ve ever heard – which I will illustrate, live!

It’s 50% workshop, 50% performance, 110% improv, 25.3% carbohydrates, and may contain traces of tree nuts. You’ll even be able to download the story as a pdf from my website afterwards.

DATE: Thursday September 26th
WHEN:
– 10:30am -> 12:00pm (SESSION SOLD OUT)
– 12:30pm -> 2:00pm (new session added)
WHERE: State Library of Western Australia, Perth
BOOKINGS: essential. Buy tickets here.

Ever wondered what a fart sounds like in Turkish?

Apparently like that!

I love seeing how words and particularly sound effects get translated into other languages. My graphic novel Gastronauts has been released in Türkiye as Gastronotlar, which means we get to find out how farts (and burps) sound in Turkish!

See below for the cover and more internals.

Continue reading “Ever wondered what a fart sounds like in Turkish?”

Gastronauts re-released in full COLOUR

Originally published in 2018, Gastronauts is back with a new full colour edition!

With colouring by Paulina Gamez and new covers designed by Rebecca Mills, this new edition is disgustingly good.

It even comes with an extra bonus story!

Continue reading “Gastronauts re-released in full COLOUR”

Secret Agent Mole sneaks into Germany

It’s my first ever book published in Germany!

In Deutschland, Max Mole is known as Max Maulwurf, and book 1 is called Die Fischtäbchen-Falle – ‘The Fish-Finger Trap’.

Book 2 will be out in Germany in October. Rather than The Boar Identity, it’s called Die Astronauten-Attacke – ‘The Astronaut Attack’.

Thanks to Karibu for publishing, and Matthias Wieland for translating!

Here are some of the German internals so you can see how the words and sound effects translate (SCHLÜRF! PLATSCH! SPRITZ!):

Continue reading “Secret Agent Mole sneaks into Germany”

Secret Agent Mole book 3: Dr Nude is out from today

Woohoo! I can’t believe it’s here already – the epic conclusion to the Dr Nude saga. He’s been a villain since the start of the series, and Max and the team finally get a chance for a proper rematch.

Here’s the official synopsis:

Dr Nude’s anti-gravity Doomsday Device is ready to blow. Max and the team have to stop it or the entire Earth could be split in two … and then they’ll never get their secret agent licences! But first, our heroes need to sneak into a fancy-dress party. Will they have good disguises? You bet. Will the disguises work? Probably not, no. Is Max prepared for what he’ll find in Dr Nude’s lair? Goodness no. To be perfectly honest, I’m not sure you’ll be prepared either, dear reader. You have been warned. Time to rock and mole!

I can’t wait to hear what readers think about this one … I’m mighty happy with how it turned out, and I hope it makes you laugh your socks off.


Buy Secret Agent Mole book 3: Dr Nude

April school holiday events

I’ve got three events coming up this April school holidays.

Details below!


Apr 6 – Right Way Down book celebration

Come and help celebrate the release of Right Way Down, a brand new ⁠children’s poetry collection from WA authors.

WHEN: Saturday April 6th, 10:30am
WHERE: Rankin Gardens, car Hamersley Rd and Rokeyby Rd, Subiaco, WA
BOOKINGS: FREE but required, via eventbrite.

Continue reading “April school holiday events”

New interview on the Good Reading podcast

Earlier in Feb I got to chat with Gregory Dobbs from the Good Reading podcast, all about my picture book Stellarphant and the upcoming colour rereleases of Brobot and Gastonauts.

As Greg puts it, we chat about “the great characters [James] has created – Sally Tinker (the world’s foremost inventor under the age of twelve), Joe Tinker (full-time baby) and Charli Stevenson (foremost biologist under the age of eleven). We explore the hilarious and often quite smelly adventures they get up to, along with Sally’s amazing range of inventions. There’s also a few Dad jokes along the way.”

INTERVIEW
Stellarphant, Brobot and Gastronauts
Good Reading Podcast
with Gregory Dobbs

Events for March

To get email notifications of future events, you can either:
– head to my blog and subscribe to new posts via the little box on the right.
– sign up for my newsletter, The James Foley-o, and get all my news and events in a quarterly email.


Mar 16 – ‘Right Way Down’ book launch

Join us to celebrate the launch Right Way Down, a collection of children’s poetry from 38 brilliant WA writers!

Following the launch: books will be available for purchase, enjoy light refreshments, browse the artwork of Briony Stewart, meet the book’s editors and illustrator, and grab a signature from one of the many contributors (including me!).

This event is a collaboration between Alphabet Soup Books and Fremantle Press. The book is sponsored by the Department of Local Government, Sport and Cultural Industries.

Tickets to this event are free but essential (numbers are limited).

DATE: Saturday 16 March, 2024
WHEN: 3-5pm
WHERE: State Library of WA, Perth CBD
AGES: all ages
TICKETS: FREE, bookings essential

Continue reading “Events for March”