Ireland is famously proud of the number of high profile writers it produces. But given the ease with which a web resource can be set up, there is a shortage of professional-level sites offering down-to-earth, practical information for people in Ireland who hope to write for a living. I helped to develop one aimed at people who want to…
Here’s a first look at the cover of the French edition of ‘The Wisdom of Dead Men’. It’s going to be entitled ‘Féroces’, (‘Ferocious’), and I’m really pleased with the design. They’ve captured that ‘dark-gothic-mystery-and-violence-tempered-by-a-need-for-civilized-decorum’ feel very well indeed. You can see more versions of my book covers in my Cover Gallery. As I’ve mentioned before with the French…
I was contacted recently by researcher Milagros Torrado, from the University of Santiago de Compostela, Galicia, Spain, who has been looking into the myth of the evil eye in different cultures. He’d found my book and was interested in getting an Irish viewpoint, particularly as the book was aimed at younger readers. Balor of the Evil Eye is, of…
My agent has just informed me that the French editions of three of my novels will be released as ebooks. ‘Small-Minded Giants’ (under the title, ‘Liberté Surveillée’) , ‘Ancient Appetites’ (under the title ‘Voraces’) and ‘The Wisdom of Dead Men’ (don’t know what they’re calling it yet) are to go digital, courtesy of my French publisher, Mango Jeunesse. I…
Christmas is over, the snow is gone (but threatens to come back) and I face the New Year after a great holiday several pounds heavier and many euros lighter. It was a lovely couple of weeks, centred round the family and doing sod all, though it included watching far fewer films than usual, and no lie-ins worth talking about….
One of the most enjoyable parts of visiting schools is seeing the pupils take ideas and images from my books and do their own thing with them. I will often show up at a school to discover a whole wall covered in fantastic artwork, with young artists displaying their own interpretations of characters and events from my stories. That…
Bruce Schneier and information pollution, The Voyage of the Dawn Treader, and Hans Zimmer’s secret Inception melody.
Okay, so you know how they say never have a new baby and move house at the same time? Well, I’d go one further than that. Absolutely never move house to a place that needs a thorough renovation, when your nation’s banks are in financial meltdown and have gone completely schizo, when you’ve just had a new baby and…
Yes. Believe the hype. It’s that good. Three of the most fundamental elements of any story are character, setting and the problem that forms the basis of your plot. Having to teach this on courses (particularly to children) has really forced me to tackle the defining of these elements in simple terms. You must to able to separate them…
One of our roving Weird-Wide News reporters wandered into a big toyshop last week (you would think they had better things to do). But while pushing themselves around in a trolley, they spotted a whole wall of Armouron toys. I was amazed to hear they were finally out (nobody told me), but happy to see them on the shelves….