David Maybury | Blog

Fancy a chance to win a snappy special edition by Kyle Baker? The Guardian is running a competition to mark the launch of Danny Finderoth’s The Rough Guide to Graphic Novels (pretty much what it says on the tin). To win one of the prints (or the runner-up prize of Fingeroth’s Rough Guide) all you have to do is answer one quick and easy question…

In Art Spiegelman’s graphic novel about the Holocaust, Maus, the characters are all presented as various types of anthropomorphic animals, according to nationality or race. What animal are the Germans? (Hint)

As a bonus - Fingeroth has a feature choosing his top 10 graphic novels (more books added to the list). Enjoy.

It’s not out until November 21 but the first teaser trailer for Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince is in the wild. It certainly looks darker than the other releases - following the trend of the books…

What do you think?

I got a sneak peak at the Boy in the Striped Pyjamas trailer today and felt very privileged - little did I know that all I had to do to see it was log on to John Boyne’s blog - so, without anymore of my winding go and have a look see.

(Odd that they have such strong English accents - but otherwise, it looks good.)

Those very clever foxes over on the Vulpes Libris blog have an interview with Keith Gray. A sneak peak at what Keith is planning next:

So… what’s next for you?  Another book?  More virtual projects?  Holiday in the Bahamas?

What’s next for me is another book.  It’s a job, I’m afraid.  If I don’t write the books, I don’t get paid.  My deadline is the end of this July with a pencilled publication date of next July.  It’s another book aimed at teenagers and so far it’s called ‘Hoodlum’ but that may change.  None of my books have ever kept the same title throughout the whole of the writing/editing process.  Ostrich Boys was originally called Painted Black, then it became ‘Ash’, and was even ‘Still Death’ for a short while.  My publishers loved ‘Ash’  - but I fought for my own way.  I’m very happy with Ostrich Boys.

The interview covers a lot of what Keith discussed with Kate Thompson in Dublin last month (a month already? Time flies) Age Branding and suicide and being the writer-in-residence for the Scottish Book Trust… Go on, have a read.

Couldn’t make it to San Diego last week? (No me neither - the jet was in for repair) But there is a lot of noise about it around the web - here’s a few quick links -

• The Times UK has a piece on it - here.
• Time Magazine have a decent run through
• The LA Times has pics and a huge archive of bits and pieces
• Comics Reporter has the Eisner Award Winners
• Neil Gaiman couldn’t make it - but the Coraline figurines did! (ps - Mr Gaiman is in Dublin on 27 October, have I mentioned that already?)
• And of course there is the comic-con website for more.

The most notable absence was Star Trek - no previews, no panels… nothing? But the big winner was Hugh Jackman (X-Men/Wolverine) who wowed the crowds when he went streaming after Marvel Comics’ Stan Lee (funnily enough, Wolverine is one of the only X-Men that Lee didn’t create). Here’s a clip -

If you’re near a TV today at about 4pm switch over to the Den on RTÉ 2. Patrick Ness, the man behind The Knife of Never Letting Go, is on The Buzz with Sonagh and Declan.

>> Go watch the clip on RTÉ.ie

Speaking of sleuthing - here - the Sunday Tribune had a feature yesterday, Around the world in 80 sleuths. Seems crime fiction is taking hold around the globe as never before. Ireland features a bit (are we criminal masterminds?) but the rest of the list is pretty comprehensive - who knew the South Pole had a crime graphic novel?

And if you fancy some crime fiction - head over to Declan Burke for some news, reviews and the gripping A Gonzo Noir novel.

Spotted in the Irish Times that Eason’s bookstores are having a Stephenie Meyer/Twilight themed breakfast on Saturday (August 2) to celebrate her new book Breaking Dawn. Costumes aren’t mandatory (I’d at least slap a set of fangs in, just in case) The event is by invitation only - there are no details left on easons.ie but after a bit of sleuthing  I managed to dig out the list of participating shops. Give them a call to see if there is any space left.

TO ALL STEPHENIE MEYER FANS! Celebrate the worldwide publication of ’Breaking Dawn’, the 4th part of the ‘Twilight’ series by joining us for Breakfast in the following stores on SATURDAY 2 AUGUST from 8AM-9AM. ADMITTANCE BY INVITATION ONLY.

O’Connell St, Dublin - 01 858 3811
Shop St, Galway - 091 562284
O’Connell St, Limerick - 061 419588
Rushmere Centre, Craigavon - 028 3834 2031
Blanchardstown Centre - 01 822 1117
Portlaoise - 057 8620466
Swords - 01 890 0978
Dungarvan - 058 24660
Drogheda - 041 983 8654
Ashbourne - 01 835 9117

ASDA sold Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows for £1 last week… Nicholas Clee wonders if it devalues the book for future generations by turning into a commercial battle between supermarkets and publishers and sending it to limbo on the bestsellers lists…

Surely it is usual for supermarkets to discount at levels that conventional booksellers cannot match? Yes, it is; but there have continued to be book buyers prepared to support bookshops, buying the HP novels at higher prices than they would need to pay elsewhere. The recommended retail prices may have been devalued, but the HP “brand” was not. - guardian.co.uk

More on bookseller.com about HP too.

Damien threw down the gauntlet to build your fluffy links… I came up with this, all fromThe Guardian’s Top Ten Series:

• Julia Golding’s top 10 characters from children’s historical fiction
• David Almond’s top 10 children’s books
• Georgia Byng’s top 10 books to feed the imagination
• Cornelia Funke’s top 10 bedtime stories
• Rob Grant’s top 10 comic science fiction novels
• Jacqueline Wilson’s top 10 children’s books

And while trekking through the guardian site I found two more articles on recommended reading for younger readers - For children 0-3 and For children 4 - 7 year olds.

We got to see The Dark Knight last night (thanks to the Movies.ie). I was left pretty much speechless after watching it and am still putting it all together in my head today. DC and Marvel have both raised the bar - Iron Man comes in a very close second - but for now Christopher Nolan is the man on the top.

Nice to see so many bloggers last night too. The post mortem afterward was, nearly, as much fun as the movie.

Off to learn some magic pencil tricks…

Rick, Darren and Darragh have all had some muppet appreciation going lately… Here’s another muppet clip: (not quite as fun as Feist though…)

Not new but worth a mention - introducing Lego Stephen Hawking. (via Kottke)

Nick Park (the man behind Wallace and Gromit) is heading to the rank and file of the Beano for it’s 70th birthday issue. Well, he won’t quite be rank and file, more editor in chief…

My dream was to draw for The Beano. When I was 10 years old, I started drawing cartoon strips with The Beano in mind. - Nick Park

Time for a trip down memory lane - remember The Bashstreet Kids, The Numskulls and Billy Whizz ? Or the mad looking Gnasher badge that you got when you joined the club?

The new issue is out on Wednesday. Ah, go on.

Fancy the chance to land a publishing deal with one of the UK’s most notable houses? Here’s your chance - The Times/Chicken House Children’s Fiction Competition is back for another year.

Plenty of time to knock out a book (no more than 80,000 words) with the deadline not until 13 October. There are loads of tips, interviews with judges and more over on the Times UK site. Go have a read and then nip to the shop for a pen, some paper and a large envelope.

A few pics from the Children’s Books Ireland - Summer Day Out in Farmleigh on Sunday. Jack Lynch and Len Graham told tall tales, Jen Murray (of CBI fame) blowing up balloons and the stomach turning Gabriel Fitzmaurice read some of his really really rotten rhymes.

Well done to everyone at CBI and to all of the storytellers, writers and illustrators who put on a great day of stories and madness.

PS - this is officially post no 200!! (with nearly 577 comments on the site so far -I’m flabbergasted at that- thanks to everyone who reads!!)

The new all singing, all dancing Tor.com site is up. Covering all things, Science Fiction-y, Fantasy-y and the rest of the Universe - with new stories from John Scalzi and Charles Stross. (If that doesn’t do it - have a look at the gallery)

Seen the Watchmen Trailer yet? Alan Moore has an interview about the new movie here. (via FP blog.) The first question sets the mood pretty well:

Don’t you have the slightest curiosity about what Watchmen director Zack Snyder is doing with your work?

I would rather not know.

Neil Gaiman is planning a trip to Dublin as part of a UK tour to promote his new book. Huzzah! Sometime around Halloween - something to look forward to…

And before I forget: Niamh Sharkey, the abundantly talented mastermind behind I’m a Happy Hugglewug, has a blog. With videos, pictures and some news too. Go read…

And just because it is that good - the Watchmen trailer! (via Rick and Monscooch)

This Sunday will see a clattering of book-world who-be-whats-its invade the salubrious surroundings of Farmleigh for Children’s Books Ireland’s Summer Stories Day.

Ronke Arogundade, Jack Lynch, Gabriel Fitzmaurice, Jack Lynch, Eddie Lenihan, Niamh Sharkey and Adrienne Geoghegan are all going to feature with illustration workshops, storytelling and author readings. And of course, I’ll be there with a radio doing something pertaining to work…

Fingers crossed the rain holds off and the sun comes out!

(Apologies for the skewy layout at the minute - technical difficulties!)

News is out on the longlisted for the Booktrust Teenage Prize. The judges have their work cut out woth some steep competition:

• The Declaration by Gemma Malley (Bloomsbury)
• Newes from the Dead by Mary Hooper (Bodley Head)
• Creature of The Night by Kate Thompson (Bodley Head)
• Before I Die by Jenny Downham (David Fickling)
• The Knife That Killed Me by Anthony McGowan (Definitions)
• The Crossing of Ingo by Helen Dunmore (Harper Collins)
• Broken Soup by Jenny Valentine (HarperCollins)
• Dirty Angels by Andrew Clover (Hodder)
• Incarceron by Catherine Fisher (Hodder)
• The Red Necklace by Sally Gardner (Orion)
• Bad Blood by Rhiannon Lassiter (OUP)
• Black Rabbit Summer by Kevin Brooks (Puffin)
• What I Was by Meg Rosoff (Puffin)
• Snakehead by Anthony Horowitz (Walker)
• Apache by Tanya Landman (Walker)
• The Knife of Never Letting Go by Patrick Ness (Walker)

Great to see Kate Thompson’s name up there already - I think Creature will be featuring on plenty of lists this year (and next)!. Still, The Knife of Never Letting Go, Before I Die or What I was would all be deserving choices…

Darren, of darrenbyrne.com fame, has tagged me with a potential rant, I mean tag meme. So here goes:

It’s called Getting Your Goat and the rules are easy enough to follow:

1. List two things that irritate you for a reason (followed by the reason)
2. List two things that irritate you for no apparent reason whatsoever (see easy enough to do)
3. Give credit to the person who tagged you. (That’d be the afore mentioned evil blogging mastermind Darren)
4. Link your answers to the original blog, that’s here (Say hello to Keiron over at: http://www.skillett.com)
5. Tag four new people to participate (I’m going to skip this part, if you feel like ranting… rant away, that’s why you have a blog - right?)

It is to my own shame that I have let my Irish slip to nearly nothing. I don’t need other people to ashamed of me because of it. So, the first thing I’m going to rant on about are the few unhelpful/snobbish and often blatantly rude Irish language speakers out there. (Not every Irish speaker fits this description - in fact the majority are friendly, helpful and patient as I try to muddle through a chat and most people never refuse a conversation in English) That said - there are those who refuse to help or to speak English no matter how you are struggling.

While I’m on a roll here: take the recently closed Síopa Leabhar on Harcourt Street - they have always been as unhelpful as possible and have occasionally ignored me if I spoke in English at the till. How does that help encourage anyone to learn Irish or to buy books…?!?

That’s as far as I’ve gotten with my rant. I’ll come back to the rest of the tag later - but I thought I’d vent after a frustrating phone call with someone who refused to speak English!!