A blog for the New Zealand creative advertising industry, now at www.campaignbrief.com/nz. Email news to: michael@campaignbrief.com

Tuesday, February 05, 2008

SLEEPWALKER'S INTRODUCTION TO FLIGHT


Creative adman Sion Scott-Wilson’s new novel, The Sleepwalker’s Introduction to Flight will be published in hardback by Macmillan UK in May. The paperback will be available through the Pan imprint.
The official launch takes place in London’s Covent Garden on May 8th, although the book is currently available for pre-order on Amazon.
The Sleepwalker’s Introduction to Flight has been described as:
‘A heart-rending and riotous mini-epic, a brilliantly subversive coming-of-age tale about what happens when dark and light collide, and society's marginalised find their voice.’
‘A remarkable, picaresque journey into the dark heart of suburban England.’
Scott-Wilson is thrilled by the response so far: "It’s early days but there does seem to be a bit of a buzz about it. A major London retailer has already selected ‘The Sleepwalker’s Introduction to Flight’ as their Book of The Month for May and I’ve heard that there’s going to be a brilliant turnout for the launch."

17 Comments:

Anonymous Anonymous said...

Nice one Sion. This is true creativity - A writer who actually writes something other than an add and isn't bitching about what awards they didn't win. Hope it goes well.

7:09 pm NZDT

 
Anonymous Anonymous said...

interesting guys like Sean, Loseby, Chris Hunter (published authors) weren't used at DDBs copy school last year - were they not creative enough or hadn't they won enough awards? I'd say the younger grads could have learnt a fair bit from these guys.

7:10 pm NZDT

 
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Better still, he didn't quit advertising to try to be a 'filum' director, then failed, then got back into advertising, then...

Sion is a talented sod. Well done. He did it off his own back and didn't blame others.

8:44 am NZDT

 
Blogger Peter Vegas said...

Read a copy of the 2nd draft last year.
It's fantastic.
You fully don't realise that the main character's boss is the one who was driving the car that killed his daughter.

And the way you find out on the last page that the whole story was the main character's memory of the events, on the day he gets sentenced for murdering his boss, is brilliant.

Cant wait to see the movie ( shot by an ex ad guy who quit to make films, failed, got back into advertising , then quit to try making films again.)

8:42 pm NZDT

 
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Wrong, 7:10. Richard Loseby did talk at Copyschool. And the younger grads did learn a fair bit. (Shame you weren't one of them.) And it wasn't DDB's Copyschool either, it was Award's. Get your facts right before you go blaming DDB yet again. Boring twat.

9:41 pm NZDT

 
Blogger Unknown said...

Brilliant. Magnificent. Fantastic. Well done. Superb.

8:25 am NZDT

 
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Peter, I thought you were going to give the plot away. Thank god you didn't, knowing that her dad was also her brother would almost make it not worth reading.

11:43 am NZDT

 
Anonymous Anonymous said...

To 9:41pm
Umm, I'm just a casual observer, but I think 7:10 probably called it 'DDB's copy school' deliberately. Maybe if you weren't so busy being self-righteous and defensive about DDB you'd notice deliberate irony instead of flying into a tizzy about getting facts straight.

12:16 pm NZDT

 
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Here's the synopsis from Amazon...


Dreaming of joining the brotherhood of Acapulcan cliff-divers, young Mikey Hough rigs a diving platform in the garden of his suburban Berkshire home. Two years later, when he awakes from his coma, Mikey befriends Roger, an elderly ex-pilot hospitalised when his precious Distinguished Flying Cross was violently stolen from him. Mikey soon learns that his own disastrous attempt at flight has damaged his Suprachiasmatic Nucleus, destroying his ability to sleep. The medical profession can do nothing for him. He is sent home from hospital to die. One night, a despondent Mikey stumbles across Livia, the cynical teenage ward of a neighbouring councilman. Together they decide to track down Roger's stolen medal.So begins a remarkable, picaresque journey into the dark heart of suburban England, during which the fearless Mikey and Livia confront a sprawling cast of pensioners, policemen and criminals - including the profoundly sinister man-child 'The Fat Controller'. As they hurtle towards daybreak, they persuade Roger to undertake one last, gut-wrenching sortie into the night skies.
"The Sleepwalker's Introduction to Flight" is a heart-rending and riotous mini-epic, a brilliantly subversive coming-of-age tale about what happens when dark and light collide, and society's marginalised find their voice

4:39 pm NZDT

 
Blogger Peter Vegas said...

Sion originally presented that idea in the pitch for Placemakers, except Mikey went to PLacemakers to buy the gear to make the platform.

Client loved the idea but Sion couldn't make it work as a frdige magnet so it got canned.

7:26 pm NZDT

 
Anonymous Anonymous said...

I heard one ex copywriter wrote a book for another publisher as a 'scam' novel.

They were going to photocopy off all 496 A4 pages, put it together on a flash binder, talk to a small retailer in Gore to see if they can get it on the shelves for one hour, take a photo, get a customer to purchase it for minimal cost, and stick the book into the Samuel Johnson Literary prize.

Unfortunately, unlike in advertising, it's hard to scam novels for award purposes only.

Because the customer who bought the book was the third cousin, twice removed, of someone who knew an assistant mail boy in a publishing company in Wellington, and the book was revealed to be a scam and thrown out of contention.

8:28 am NZDT

 
Anonymous Anonymous said...

To 7:10: most heartily agree, except SSW won truckloads of awards before he ended up in Godzone. Am pretty sure Loseby has a few to his name too. Hunter is DM/interactive and has got truckloads of metal from the RSVPs and the international DM shows. It's just those guys have never really featured at Axis. (And Hunter's fucked off to Oz now anyway.)

11:08 pm NZDT

 
Anonymous Anonymous said...

8:28 - that's awesome. The worst case I've ever seen of scamming is an un-named senior creative team from Clems that were spray gluing a laser print out on a wall beside The Embassy and taking a picture of it for 'authentication'.

12:14 pm NZDT

 
Anonymous Anonymous said...

One to hold it up straight and one to smooth it down. What's your point?

9:30 am NZDT

 
Anonymous Anonymous said...

12.16
good call...ddb twats

12.14
reminds me of the guys who put up a jackass billboard that involved velcro-ing one of the creatives to the billboard then taking a photo all before the next skin was ready to go up.

also reminds me of all the colenso scam tv that gets into axis every year

also reminds me... oh bugger it i give up

anyway what agency is doing The Independant (spelling?) advertising? They should be shot by a firing squad of graduates for such SHAMEFUL rip offs of Economist ads from 20 years ago.

are there no standards left in NZ advertising?

xx
chocolateloverboy

12:49 am NZDT

 
Anonymous Anonymous said...

chocolateloverboy, are you in any way connected to the world famous peado boychocolatelover?

11:23 am NZDT

 
Anonymous Anonymous said...

As a practicing Doctor, when I entered the New Zealand Medical Awards in 2003, my scam 'Hip replacement' medical procedure was found to be ineligible due to the fact it was carried out on a Llama.

Am not happy. My medical clinic is on Grey's Ave, and I find this sort of 'scam' talk ruining my reputation with the sort of people whom I need an instant recognition from but do not wish to do work for!!

11:25 pm NZDT

 

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