Alex Shearer
Quick Facts
Biography
Alex Shearer (born June 25, 1949) is a British novelist.
Shearer was recognized as a television scenario writer at age 29 after having produced over 30 works. He was active as a writer for television, movies, theatre, and radio (including plays for BBC Radio 4) for 14 years, and then devoted himself to becoming a novelist.
His maiden work was The Dream Maker (1992). It was especially popular as a children's adventure novel, and he was highly esteemed as an internationally bestselling novelist. In Britain, he had a place among young adult genre reviews, but his work extended beyond into various genres. Shearer himself has said that he hates genre divisions (February 2, 2009, during a talk show in an Ikebukuro bookstore). He also finds it appealing to continually challenge himself by creating new concepts rather than writing series novels.
He writes quickly, having written "The Great Blue Yonder" within three weeks (mentioned on the same talk show). He writes at a pace of two books a year, and has already had over 25 titles published.
His 2003 novel The Speed of the Dark was shortlisted for the Guardian Children's Fiction Prize. The Greatest Store in the World was adapted into a television film by the BBC. His novel Bootleg was adapted for a television series by the BBC, and later adapted into manga and anime under its Japanese title Chocolate Underground.
Novels
The great switcheroonie
- The Dream Maker (1992)
- Professor Sniff and the Lost Spring Breezes (1996), Gollancz
- Wilmot and Chips (1996), Red Fox
- The Winter Brothers and the Missing Snow (1997), Puffin
- Dr. Twilite and the Autumn Snooze (1997), Puffin
- The Summer Sisters and the Dance Disaster (1997), Puffin
- Box 132 (1997), Harper Collins
- The Found (2005), Macmillan
- Wilmot and Pops (1998), Hodder
- The Greatest Store in the World (1999), Hodder
- The Great Blue Yonder (2002), Macmillan
- The Stolen (2002), Macmillan
- Sea Legs (2003), Hodder
- Bootleg (2003), Macmillan
- The Crush (2003)
- The Speed of the Dark (2004), Macmillan
- The Lost (2004), Macmillan
- The Fugitives (2004),Haddock
- The Great Switcheroonie (2006), H*The Hunted (2005), Macmillanodder
- I Was a Schoolboy Bridegroom (2006),haddock
- Land Lubbers (2007), Hodder
- The Invisible Man's Socks (2007), Macmillan
- Tins (2007)
- The Cloud Hunters (2012), Hot Key
- Bootleg
- Canned
- TINS