Arthur Quinn and the Chrismas Links

It’s that time of the year again. So if you want to get Arthur in your life in time for Christmas, here are all the links you’ll need in one place.

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If you can, buy the books from your local indie bookshop. But there are loads of places you can buy the books online. Hive is a great book retailer, especially since you’ll be supporting independent booksellers. Mericer Press, who published the books, have a fantastic deal at the minute – all three books for €15! You can, of course, also find the books on Amazon. But if you are buying online, I can’t recommend Hive or Mercier enough!

As for e-books, you can get the books individually at all the above links. But by far the best value is the bumperpack which includes the entire trilogy for around £10!! It’s available on Hive here. (You can also get it on Amazon but please do try to support Hive and independent bookshops!)

What’s that you say? You speak French and also want to read Arthur’s adventures? Well good news! Because the entire trilogy is now available in French here!

Maybe you’ve already read all three books and want something else. Well, check out the Arthur Quinn website for lots of Christmas freebies, including greeting cards, decorations, screensavers and – best of all – TWO exclusive short stories!

arthur-quinn-card

New Ink!

I got a new tattoo and it’s very bookish.

before and after - tattoo

 

I’ve wanted this one for a LONG time. I came up with the idea and the fantastic tattooist designed it for me. It took about 2 hours under the needle but was so worth it.

 

The quote, by the way, is from Matilda by Roald Dahl, my favourite book growing up.

So Matilda’s strong young mind continued to grow, nurtured by the voices of all those authors who had sent their books out into the world like ships on the sea. These books gave Matilda a hopeful and comforting message: You are not alone.

The Great Fragola Brothers

On Thursday evening I was invited along to a launch for the new edition of ‘Mad About Books‘, the must-have guide from Dubray Books. While there I was honoured to meet Joe Prendergast and even more honoured when he presented me with copies of his books!

My copies!

My copies!

For anyone who hasn’t heard of Joe, he’s nine years old and he has TWO published books to his name with a third on the way. The proceeds of the books go to Cancer Clinical Research Trust, following the sad death of Joe’s dad. You can read a great interview with Joe here.

Joe was kind enough to sign the books for me!

Joe was kind enough to sign the books for me!

The books themselves are about The Great Fragola Brothers, Italy’s most famous magic duo who get embroiled in the kidnapping of a famous actress, secret societies and even REAL MAGIC! I flew through the first one because I loved it so much. The books are funny, exciting, thrilling and full of edge-of-your-seat action. Go and buy the books. Not only are they for a great cause, but like I said, they’re also great!

 

 

World Book Day 2013

World Book Day is just around the corner (Thurs 7 March, in fact) and I’ll be touring a few bookshops that week. I had a fantastic time last year and can’t wait for it this time.

The details are of where I am all week are below. Hope I see you somewhere and if not I hope you have a wonderful World Book Day [week]!

 

Monday – Dubray Dun Laoghaire

Tuesday – Dubray Galway

Wednesday – Eason O’Connell St

Thursday – Eason Blanchardstown

Saturday – Waterstones Drogheda

Matilda: the Musical

I’m often asked what my favourite book as a kid was and I’ll always answer: ‘Matilda’ by Roald Dahl. I love the dark humour, the tenderness of Miss Honey and Matilda’s friendship and I love how scary it is in the final ‘blackboard’ scene. So, also being partial to the odd musical, I was very excited by the prospect of Matilda: the Musical.

The show managed to exceed my already high expectations.

It’s running in the West End of London now (and is opening on Broadway in 2013) and won a record breaking number of awards in the short year it’s been there. If you’ve read the book or seen the film, you’ll know the story already. But the writing team of Dennis Kelly and Tim Minchin (yes, the comedian musician Tim Minchin) took the fantastic novel and expanded on it in all the right places. I won’t give too much away but they added a really ingenious subplot between Matilda and her favourite librarian. Read the rest of this entry »

Children’s Book Festival 2012

As I type these words, I’m on a train to Ennis. (I’m working on an Android tablet connected to a fiddly little keyboard that’s smaller than my hand and I have to slam each key to get the character up on the screen.) Anyway… I’m right in the middle of the glorious insanity that is Children’s Book Festival. Last week, I met ten different classes alone – in South Dublin Libraries, Meath County Libraries and my local bookshop, Dubray Rathmines. Over the next few days, I’ll be visiting Clare Libraries and, as the month progresses, I’ll be in various locations in Dublin, Cork, Longford and more. And all the while I’m working on Arthur Quinn 3 re-writes. I’d be lying if I said October isn’t tiring. But I’d also be lying if I said it isn’t LOADS of fun. Hopefully I’ll see you as part of CBF! If not, check out www.chrildrensbooksireland.ie for full listings.

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 😉

5 to try

Author Joe Hill posed an interesting question on his blog earlier. What 5 things have you never done as a writer that you would like to try? It got me thinking so here are my 5.

 

1.Write a graphic novel

This is an easy one. I’ve always loved comics and have a pretty decent collection. I also love art and have studied fine art, graphic design and film in college – all of which work nicely with the medium of graphic novels. It’s years since I made any art on paper properly and I’m sure I’ve lost whatever talent I may have had in that area so I wouldn’t be able to draw a comic but I would absolutely love to write one. If any comic artists or illustrators out there want to collaborate, give me a holla! Read the rest of this entry »