Belbin, David 1958–

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Belbin, David 1958–

PERSONAL: Born January 19, 1958, in Sheffield, England; son of John and Jo Belbin. Ethnicity: "White, Anglo-Saxon." Education: University of Nottingham, B.A. (with honors), 1980.

ADDRESSES: Home—27 Devonshire Rd., Sherwood, Nottingham NG5 2EW, England. Agent—Jennifer Luthlen, The Rowans, 88 Holmfield Rd., Leicester LE2 1SB, England. E-mail—[email protected].

CAREER: Teacher of English, drama, and media studies in Nottingham, England, 1985–94; writer, 1994–. Nottingham Trent University, senior lecturer in creative writing, 2002–, organizer of the national conference Turning Point, 2004.

MEMBER: Society of Authors.

WRITINGS:

FOR YOUNG ADULTS

The Foggiest, Hippo Books (London, England), 1990.

Shoot the Teacher, Scholastic Inc. (London, England), 1993, published as Deadly Secrets, Scholastic Inc. (London, England), 1994, revised as Dead Teachers Don't Talk, Five Leaves Press (Nottingham, England), 2003.

Final Cut, Scholastic Inc. (London, England), 1994.

Avenging Angel, Scholastic Inc. (London, England), 1994.

Break Point, Scholastic Inc. (London, England), 1995.

Deadly Inheritance, Scholastic Inc. (London, England), 1996.

Dark Journey, Mammoth (London, England), 1997.

The David Belbin Collection: Three Degrees of Murder (contains Avenging Angel, Deadly Inheritance, and Final Cut), Scholastic Inc. (London, England), 1997.

Haunting Time (short stories), Five Leaves Press (Nottingham, England), 1998.

Love Lessons, Scholastic Inc. (London, England), 1998.

Dying for You, Scholastic Inc. (London, England), 1999.

Nicked (for "reluctant" readers), Barrington Stoke (Edinburgh, Scotland), 1999.

Runaway Train, Puffin Books (London, England), 2000.

The Right Moment (for "reluctant" readers), A & C Black (London, England), 2000.

Dead Guilty, Five Leaves Press (Nottingham, England), 2000.

Festival, Hodder Children's Books (London, England), 2001.

Harpies (for "reluctant" readers), Barrington Stoke (Edinburgh, Scotland), 2001.

Witness (for "reluctant" readers), Heinemann (Oxford, England), 2001.

The Last Virgin, Hodder Children's Books (London, England), 2002.

Boy King (for "reluctant" readers), A & C Black (London, England), 2002.

Gambler (for "reluctant" readers), Heinemann (Oxford, England), 2003.

Coma (for "reluctant" readers), Barrington Stoke (Edinburgh, Scotland), 2004.

Denial, Hodder Children's Books (London, England), 2004.

Shouting at the Stars (for "reluctant" readers), Evans (London, England), 2005.

Stray (for "reluctant" readers), Barrington Stoke (Edinburgh, Scotland), 2006.

"THE BEAT" SERIES

Missing Person, Scholastic Inc. (London, England), 1995.

Black and Blue, Scholastic Inc. (London, England), 1995.

Smokescreen, Scholastic Inc. (London, England), 1996.

Asking for It, Scholastic Inc. (London, England), 1996.

Dead White Male, Scholastic Inc. (London, England), 1996.

Losers, Scholastic Inc. (London, England), 1997.

Sudden Death, Scholastic Inc. (London, England), 1997.

Night Shift, Scholastic Inc. (London, England), 1998.

Victims, Scholastic Inc. (London, England), 1998.

Suspects, Scholastic Inc. (London, England), 1999.

Fallen Angel, Scholastic Inc. (London, England), 2000.

OTHER

(Editor) City of Crime (short stories for adults), Five Leaves Press (Nottingham, England), 1997.

The e Bay Book (nonfiction), Harriman House (Peters-field, Hampshire, England), 2004.

Author of comic books on social issues for UNICEF, including "Cry Me a River," illustrated by John Clark, 2003. Work represented in anthologies, including Best Short Stories of the Year 1993, Heinemann, 1994; The Young Oxford Book of Train Stories, 2001; The Young Oxford Book of Mysteries Stories, 2003; Thirteen More Tales of Horror; and City of Crime, Five Leaves Press (Nottingham, England). Contributor to periodicals.

SIDELIGHTS: David Belbin's short stories for adults have been published regularly since 1989. His first novel for young adults, The Foggiest, was published in 1990 and has been translated into several languages. According to Belbin, his biggest break came in 1993, when Shoot the Teacher appeared as the first title in the "Point Crime" series. Its success enabled him to become a full-time writer. In 1994 Avenging Angel introduced Clare Coppola, an Anglo-Italian student who sets out to find the hit-and-run driver who killed her younger brother. At the end of the book Clare joins the police force. Her career can be followed in "The Beat," a series of mysteries about young police officers.

Belbin once commented: "Young adult fiction scarcely existed when I was a teenager. I only discovered it in my mid-twenties, when I was training to be an English teacher. Excited by the work of writers like Robert Cormier and Robert Westall, I decided to have a go at writing a young adult novel of my own. This became The Foggiest, which was eventually published five years later, in 1990.

"I mostly write the kind of books that I would have liked to read when I was twelve or thirteen. They're often stories with twisted plots that open up the adult world and seem to appeal particularly to boys. My two most popular books, Shoot the Teacher and Final Cut, a mystery set in the film world, are examples of this. 'The Beat' is more serious, dealing with moral and social issues.

"I think that my best book—certainly the best received one—is Love Lessons. It is a full-length novel which examines the machinations and morality of a sexual affair between a male English teacher and a fifteen-year-old female student. I wrote the first draft as an adult novel. The young adult version took me nearly ten years and a brave editor to get right, but it turned out to be a better book for it.

"I still publish fiction for adults and am often asked what the difference is between writing for adults and writing for younger people. The answer: not much. There is less sex and swearing, sure, but there are ways of implying what you need to communicate so that the more mature reader understands what is going on. I don't use a difficult word or complicated syntax when something simpler would do the job, but neither do my favorite writers. I like a clean, considered style, not one that shows off."