Clockwork or All Wound Up
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Cover Story
The cover of this issue is a design incorporating illustrations from four books illustrated by the subject of our Authorgraph, Ian Beck. The top left illustration is from Five Little Ducks (Orchard), the top right from Poppy and Pip's Picnic (to be published Autumn '97 by HarperCollins), the bottom left from The Owl and the Pussy-cat (Transworld) and the bottom right from Home Before Dark (to be published September '97 by Scholastic). Ian Beck's Picture Book (Hippo) is reviewed in this issue.
Beck talks to BfK's interviewer, Julia Eccleshare, also in this issue. His distinctive decorative style with its sensitive pen line and cross hatching has a nostalgic but sometimes also a surreal quality - he describes it as 'a look that is floating, strong and wistful all at the same time'.
Thanks to Orchard, HarperCollins, Transworld and Scholastic for their help in producing this composite cover.
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Clockwork or All Wound Up
Peter Bailey
On a cold winter's night, an apprentice clockmaker, having failed his commission, scowls in a corner of the tavern as the local storyteller pegins his tale, not knowing how it will end. Meanwhile, the master mechanic Dr Kalmenius, sinister genius of the story, strides towards the tavern, dragging an evil gift for the apprentice behind him. Elsewhere, a lost, fictional, clockwork child is also seeking the warmth of the tavern. As 'fiction' and 'fact' engage like cogs, the metamechanic Philip Pullman looks on, making wise little notes in the margin. Don't miss this book. It's a fascinating meditation on the intricate machinations of narrative, and at the same time a funny, frightening and very moving story.