Book Launch!

The official launch of ‘Arthur Quinn and the Fenris Wolf’ is taking place in Hodges Figgis, Dublin 2 on Wednesday 12 September at 11 am. Facebook invite here.

Everyone is welcome!

See you there 😉

Soundtrack for Arthur (Book 2)

As I wrote in a previous post, music plays a big part for me whenever I’m coming up my stories. Sometimes I listen as I write but generally it’s whenever I’m strolling around the place, earphones in, world shut out and thinking about the various adventures Arthur gets up to.

There’s a bit more music mentioned in ‘Arthur Quinn and the Fenris Wolf’ than there was in ‘World Serpent’ so I figured I’d list some of the tracks that inspired the feel of the story. Some of you may like to use this list as a kind of soundtrack for reading, while others may just be interested in the songs that I had in mind, while even more of you will probably say that this is a boring post and that you have no interest in it.

Regardless… Here are the tracks.

 

99 Red Baloons’ by Nena

When we first meet Arthur in ‘Fenris Wolf’, he and his friends are at a bowling alley. In the book it says that a pop song from the 1980s is playing. I only really had one track in mind when I wrote this – ’99 Red Baloons’ by Nena. I really like the way the song starts; slow at first and then kicking right into it with a fun beat. If this was a film, I imagine the prologue ending with that quiet part of the song before we arrive in the bright and colourful world of the bowling alley. The song is so upbeat that it works as a perfect contrast to the scary thing that happens later on in the chapter!
Read the rest of this entry »

Eason-inspired art

Last week I visited a couple of schools; Fenagh and Cloone National Schools. Both presented me with books full of letters and drawings from the students. I loved it all and I was particularly tickled when I noticed that Eason featured in two drawings based on the finale!

(Click on the image for full size)

Bobby Shaw Middle School, Pasadena TX – SKYPE Chat – 14/05/12

Yesterday I was delighted to speak to the 6th graders in Bobby Shaw Middle School, Texas, thanks to the magic of Skype. This was my first Skype chat to a group of readers and I certainly hope that it won’t be my last! After a couple of technical hitches – (my fault; I hadn’t changed my laptop settings post Skype update) – we got down to business. First off, I was asked to explain where exactly Dublin is in Ireland. Once I described in as much detail as I could muster, the 6th graders told me a little about their home town of Pasadena. It’s a small town just outside of Houston. Read the rest of this entry »

Introducing… Arthur Quinn and the Fenris Wolf!

So my second book, Arthur Quinn and the Fenris Wolf, has appeared on Amazon and a few other book-selling sites. The book is hitting the shelves in August so this is your first chance to see the cover and read the synopsis. I hope you’re as excited about reading Arthur’s next adventures as I was writing them!

Life is finally back to normal for Arthur Quinn. Three months ago, he and his friends put their lives at risk to stop the trickster god Loki from taking over the world. However, just when Arthur is starting to relax again, the dreams start once more; dreams of gods, dreams of war, dreams of wolves. It can mean only one thing. Loki is back. In the midst of a deep snowfall, Loki plots his vengeance on Arthur. In the months since their last battle, the trickster God has been assembling a deadly army of wolves and he intends to take the world once and for all. Can Arthur trust his two new classmates? Where did Ash’s puppy come from? And what is hidden in the National Museum that Loki is so desperate to get? Mysteries and questions arise as, once again, it’s down to Arthur Quinn and his friends to save the world. But what they don’t know is that this time, Loki has help…

Character Art Callout

As some of you know already, book two (‘Arthur Quinn and the Fenris Wolf’) is coming out in August. To coincide with the launch, we’re going to be unleashing a brand new version of the Arthur Quinn website a few weeks before the book comes out. One of the big additions to the new site is going to be a much more in-depth look at the characters. I want to include an illustration of each character as well. And I thought that the best person to do this is… well… you!

So send in your drawings! I want to see pictures of Arthur, Ash, Will, Max, Joe, Loki – everyone! You can take a photo of the drawings or scan them in and then use the form here to send them.

I can’t wait to see what you all come up with.

Book 2: The Proofs!

Today I got the proofs of Arthur Quinn Book 2 in the post. For those of you who don’t know, it’s the continuing adventures of Arthur and it’s called ‘Arthur Quinn and the Fenris Wolf.’ I always knew it was a longer book than ‘World Serpent’ but I found out today how much longer; a whole 60 pages! So that’s 60 pages more where Loki can cause trouble…