Authors take boy archaeologist overseas

By Belinda Goldsmith

NEW YORK (Reuters) - First came Harry Potter. Now comes teenager Will Burrows, a boy archaeologist.

Publisher Barry Cunningham of Chicken House, whose previous finds included J.K. Rowling, is on an international drive to promote two new authors, Roderick Gordon and Brian Williams, as the next hot item in children's literature.

The pair co-authored "Tunnels", a fantasy novel about a teenager who finds a lost world deep under London, which became a best-seller in Britain last year with its film rights snapped up and the book now licensed for 34 foreign editions.

Gordon, a former investment banker, and his university friend Williams, an artist, spoke to Reuters about "Tunnels", which was self-published before being picked up by Chicken House. It was released in the United States this month:

Q: Has the success of "Tunnels" surprised you?

Gordon: "When we started out late 2003 on that dark and stormy house the book almost chose us. It wasn't a rationale thing for either of us to do. We didn't start out with any expectations at all. We wanted to self-publish because it gave us control over the process but there wasn't really any expectations of money or reward or anything like that."

Q: Had you written before?

Williams: "We met at university in 1980 and I always used writing in my art work -- making films and installations that was part of it -- but not creative writing as such. I also ran a poetry magazine in my teenage years."