[{"data":1,"prerenderedAt":11},["ShallowReactive",2],{"blog-post-adventuremice-of-mice-and-mummies":3},{"_type":4,"body":5,"bodyHtml":6,"excerpt":5,"featuredImage":5,"publishedAt":7,"slug":8,"tags":9,"title":10},"blogPost",null,"The eighth Adventuremice book is poised and ready to launch! \u003Ci>\u003Cb>Adventuremice: Of Mice and Mummies\u003C/b>\u003C/i> will start hitting bookshops any day now, officially launching on February 26th. My co-author Philip Reeve and I have been coming up with activities and a video, and I hope to make another drawing video soon. But I wanted to make sure I wrote a blog specially about this book because the setting is very near and dear to my heart. When I was between, say, 11 and 15, I really, really wanted to be, not a writer-illustrator, but an archaeologist. I kind of knew an archeologist wasn't \u003Ci>really\u003C/i> a tomb raider like Indiana Jones (in fact, tomb raiding is bad!), but I was still wrapped up in the glamour and excitement of those films.\\r\n\\r\n\u003Cimg src=\"https://ic.pics.livejournal.com/jabberworks/10236801/1372318/1372318_original.jpg\" alt=\"AdvMice8_cover_medres.jpg\" title=\"AdvMice8_cover_medres.jpg\">\\r\n\\r\nI went along to some archaeology classes and realised, if I did it for a living, I probably wouldn't be discovering amazing Egyptian tombs, I'd probably be digging up a petrified piece of a wood in a cold, muddy bog somewhere. And that made me realise that what I was most excited about wasn't the digging and cataloguing, it was simply getting to look at extraordinary tomb paintings, and even painting something similar myself. I love the flat aesthetic of ancient Egyptian art, the elegance, the way the pictures are made of lines, coloured in, much like a Tintin comic book. I've wanted to do this Egyptian-style book from the beginning of the series, I knew it was coming, but Philip and I waited until we had just the right story for it. \\r\n\\r\n\u003Clj-embed id=\"5150\"/>\\r\n\\r\nIf you go onto the \u003Ca href=\"https://www.adventuremice.com/draw-make\">Draw & Make page of Adventuremice.com\u003C/a>, scroll down to find the Maze sheet, and another Mouse Hieroglyphics sheet so you can write in code (or simply use them to decorate your drawings)! \\r\n\\r\n\u003Ca href=\"https://www.adventuremice.com/draw-make\">\u003Cimg src=\"https://ic.pics.livejournal.com/jabberworks/10236801/1372519/1372519_original.jpg\" alt=\"Advice8_activities4.jpg\" title=\"Advice8_activities4.jpg\">\u003C/a>\\r\n\\r\nThis book pushed my watercolour paintings skills, and I was particularly proud of this double-page illustration, with the lighting on the ruins: \\r\n\\r\n\u003Cimg src=\"https://ic.pics.livejournal.com/jabberworks/10236801/1372686/1372686_original.jpg\" alt=\"AdvMice8_58_59_p.jpg\" title=\"AdvMice8_58_59_p.jpg\">\\r\n\\r\nI like to keep one of the paintings from the book for myself, for a sort of home gallery, and I haven't yet decided if I'm going to keep that one or this other title-page illustration of Pedro and Fledermaus having a lark: \\r\n\\r\n\u003Cimg src=\"https://ic.pics.livejournal.com/jabberworks/10236801/1373044/1373044_original.jpg\" alt=\"AdvMice8_titlepage.jpg\" title=\"AdvMice8_titlepage.jpg\">\\r\n\\r\nAs with earlier book, \u003Ca href=\"https://sarahmcintyre.bigcartel.com/\">the original ink & watercolour illustrations from the book will go on sale in the Adventuremice.com shop from 9pm on launch day, 26 Feb, UK time\u003C/a>. (Set a reminder if you're keen, to get in quick so you get the best pictures or lowest prices! Usually there are pieces from as low as £5 up to £350.) \\r\n\\r\nThis book's dedicated to Stuart, a hardworking member of the Adventuremice team; without his help with the business side of things, doing this job would be nearly impossible for me. Thank you, Stuart!! \\r\n\\r\n\u003Cimg src=\"https://ic.pics.livejournal.com/jabberworks/10236801/1373235/1373235_original.jpg\" alt=\"AdvMice8_Stuart_dedication.jpg\" title=\"AdvMice8_Stuart_dedication.jpg\">","2026-02-11T12:57:00.000Z","adventuremice-of-mice-and-mummies",[],"Adventuremice: Of Mice and Mummies",1776628732248]