Keep up to date on the latest news about Tunnels! Sadly, there are far more articles than I have the time or space to post, so this page will mostly be reserved for breaking news, although I will try to include other articles as well. If you see an article that you think should be posted, feel free to forward me the link.

Roderick Gordon and Brian Williams. Courtesy of the authors

Exclusive Topsoiler.com interview with Roderick Gordon & Brian Williams August 6, 2007

Roderick Gordon: When you were made redundant from your job, what inspired  you to hook up with your friend Brian Williams to write The Highfield Mole?

We’d been talking about doing something as far back as 1980 when we met at university, but our respective careers took us on very different paths. My job in corporate finance was all-consuming with very long hours, and didn’t leave very much time or energy for anything else, even for my family. Through the years, Brian had been doing his art – painting, drawing and film – and we would meet up regularly, often when he held one of his many exhibitions. I admired him because he had stayed true to what he believed in, whereas I had embarked on a career that wasn’t particularly rewarding in a creative sense. Of course, there was a real feeling of achievement when a deal finally worked, but these were too few and far between.

I recall we did start to put down a few ideas for a comedy at some point in the nineties, but it wasn’t until late 2001 when I was laid off that we finally had the opportunity to cooperate properly on something. In the first quarter of 2003 we wrote a film script together, and it was such fun that we both decided to embark on a new project.

My wife suggested a children’s book one evening when Brian was over for supper and I have to say that neither of us took it very seriously to begin with. However, we liked the idea of self-publishing it so that we didn’t have to tangle with publishers and their “slush piles”. We knew of far too many people who had tried that route and failed and, in any case, it was never a priority for us to secure a mainstream publisher; we just wanted to release a book that had our names on it and of which we could be proud. And if we covered the cost of the self-publishing exercise and had sufficient money to follow up with the second and subsequent books in the series, then we would have been satisfied with just that.

The Highfield Mole was actually born when, the very same night my wife had suggested we do a children's book, my conept for a Will Burrows type character collided with Brian's knowledge of a the Williamson Tunnels which were dug in Liverpool between 1800 and 1840. He had been doing some writing on the subject, but that evening it was if a bomb had gone off and we found that the ideas came thick and fast. The Highfield Mole took over our lives, and we found that there was no way we could stop, whatever the consequences! 

Brian Williams: In an interview with WriteWord, you said that William S. Burroughs taught you that the purpose of writing is to “rub out the word.” Could you please explain what is meant by that phrase?

I'm afraid there really isn't enough space here to fully explain the concept, suffice to say it deals with the achievement of inner-silence!

But, in general, Rod and I always try to instil sub-layers to anything we do; much in the same way that one can watch a favourite film over and over again and get more out of it on each viewing, we try to achieve this with our writing. The construction is every bit as important as the story to us. When we work together, we are both each other’s most ruthless critics, and every single sentence is scrutinised over and over again, and very often hotly debated.

Brian Williams: According to your biography, you have been involved in movie productions from a variety of perspectives. What has been your favorite project to work on? How do you think your experience will affect your dealings with the movie franchise of Tunnels?

I have been involved in many different areas of film production; set design, art direction, camera work, acting and scriptwriting. I have also written and directed my own films. My favourite projects are my own films, for obvious reasons. As regards any sort of involvement in the proposed Tunnels film, I doubt very much that either Rod or I will have very much of a say, which is something we will have to live with.

In your interview in First News, you talked a bit about the collaborative writing process. You said that you would work on the book separately and then come together. Could you describe the process in greater detail? How did you seamlessly merge your separate voices so that it reads like a book by a single author?

We don't think we actually said that we work separately and then come together. The first step is a joint brainstorming session and then a very organic process gets underway. Our collaboration involves a continual swapping of the chapter or particular section of the book between us, creating a 'third mind' as we each work on it – something that is part of both of us but also apart from us, and hence the voice of the book itself.

How did you come up with the concept for the subterranean world of Tunnels?

We always liked the concept of a world that’s just one step away and, in the case of the Colony, just below your feet.  We are both fascinated by London’s history, particularly its disused subway stations and its long forgotten subterranean rivers, and it was a natural progression for us to write about what could lie underneath it.

Were there any ideas that you decided not to use?

We both considered many many things that we decided weren’t appropriate for the story, and there were also quite a few additional scenes which were right and which we would have liked to include, but there were limitations on how long the book could be. They’re still on the cutting room floor!

What was your favorite part of the writing process?

This is a very interesting question and quite difficult to answer. The simplest response is that each stage has its high and low points. The initial discussions when we kick around ideas for a new scene for the first time are very exciting, then comes the lengthy process of committing it to paper and getting it right, which can take weeks, if not months. Then there’s the continual editing to refine it further and finally having to say “That’s enough!” and letting go. This is quite hard to do - in our minds, Tunnels will never be truly finished.

How was the decision made not to include the illustrations from The Highfield Mole and how did you feel about it?

We think it was as simple as deciding they weren't essential. After all, they were originally produced as visual aids for us in the writing of the book, rather like a storyboard is used in film production.

What was your reaction when you found out that Relativity Media had acquired the film rights to Tunnels?

Disbelief.

What can you tell us about the second book?

Nothing at the moment, except that it has been wonderful to work with the characters we’ve established and allow them to take us further into their world.

When will readers learn more about the second book? (Publication date, title, etc.)

None of the details have been confirmed but it should be out some time around September 2008 if everything goes to plan. As regards the title, this is a heavily guarded secret…

Tunnels first on Daily Mirror's s "Books to read now Harry's pottered out" August 2, 2007

Tunnels was the first book listed in the Daily Mirror's  article of books for kids to read now that the final installment of Harry Potter has been released. You can find the rest of the article here.

From the news section of Chicken House's website: "As you will have seen or heard, TUNNELS has been all over the international media since we let everyone know how terrific it is. Since it first appeared in the British press, the initial print run has already sold out with a reprint in hand; and it has been snapped up by even more publishers across the world, ranging far and wide! " The rest of the article can be read here.

Buyers Scramble for Original Editions of The Highfield Mole June 14, 2007

Once Barry Cunningham announced he had found the next Harry Potter, Abe Books reported that copies of The Highfield Mole began selling quickly, and for thousands of dollars!

The rest of the article can be found Here

The rest of the article can be found Here

Write Words Interview with Roderick Gordon and Brian Williams March 17, 2007

The online author's resource, Writer Words, conducted an interview with Roderick Gordon and Brian Williams shortly before the publication of Tunnels.

"RG: I’ve been writing ever since I can remember. One my earliest short stories was published in a school magazine when I was around ten years old. Since then there have been many many opening chapters and unfinished pieces - but I actually completed my first full-length novel in the early nineties, a particularly nasty thriller, which, thankfully, never saw the light of day. My wife sent the MS to JG Ballard after meeting him, but he never deigned to reply (however, I’m still hopeful!). I then entered a long stretch at a job in corporate finance in the City that really put a stop to anything else until I was made redundant in late 2001. As for my current writing, I’m dying to have time to work on several other novels which are all at varying stages of development, but the reality is that The Highfield Mole series is all consuming.

BW: I have been writing creatively since my early teens - poetry, prose, lyrics, scripts and short stories. I founded and edited a literary magazine for a short time before taking a degree in fine art. I have experimented with literature and the spoken word in performance, film, painting and recordings. I am currently working on two books apart from The Highfield Mole – they are “Vu as in Voodoo”, a collection of short prose pieces, and “Drugless and Bugless in the Land of Nod”, a collection of impossible film scripts. "

The rest of the interview can be found here. NOTE: According to the transcript Tunnels was released in both U.K. and U.S. spring of this year. Alas, those of use in the U.S. must wait until January 1, 2008