David Maybury | Blog

The Irish Twitterati were featured on Gadget Republic yesterday – including @eoincolfer and @clairehennessy – as Irish writers embrace the twitter:

realising that the cliched image of the Luddite scribe, writing with a quill by candlestick is not going to help boost book sales or get their name out there.

The clever folks in GR featured some other lay about (me) too:

It isn’t about what you had for breakfast. It is about communication with a lot of people, sharing information, ideas, articles and anything else you come across. For writers it is a gateway to people (especially anyone facing deadlines and can’t leave the keyboard). For booksellers it is a goldmine – have a look at how Chapters, Eason and Ravenbooks are using it. Publishers and marketing gurus are everywhere – offering advance copies, spreading the word on new titles and building excitement about upcoming authors.

I managed to miss a few reviews from the Irish Independent – namely because they weren’t online – but with a little help from Sarah Webb (thanks Sarah!!) I’ve got copies of the missing reviews:

Teenage readers who like their novels fast and furious are spoilt for choice this season with three cracking new action-adventure tales: Time Riders by Alex Scarrow, The Ring of Five by Eoin McNamee, and Vampirates: Empire of Night by Justin Somper.

Time Riders (Puffin £6.99) is the first YA (young adult) novel by a successful adult thriller writer and ex-computer game designer, and is an exceptionally confident teen debut. Three very different teenagers are plucked from sure death by a mysterious stranger and together must police evil time travellers and fix ‘broken’ history. Maddy should have died on a plane in 2010, Liam should have died on the Titanic in 1912, and Sal should have died in a fire in 2026 – but instead they become the Time Travellers. The concept is Einstein-clever, the plotting exceptional, the writing sharp and edgy – all in all a terrific read for readers of 12 or 13+. Highly recommended.

Irish author, Eoin McNamee is back with his second teen thriller with a fantasy twist. In the opening scene of The Ring of Five (Quercus £6.99) teenager Danny is kidnapped and forced to join ‘Wilsons’, a crack spy team dedicated to defeating the ruthless Cherubs. While not as deftly plotted as the Scarrow book there’s plenty here to keep young teen readers’ adrenaline pumping in this excellent Harry Potter/Robert Muchamore mash-up.

And finally ‘Captain’ Justin Somper is back with another Vampirate tale, Empire of the Night (Simon and Schuster £6.99). Twins Conor and Grace Tempest are thrown into another rip-roaring adventure on the high seas featuring betrayal, deception and vivid sword fights galore. Read it for the characters’ names alone – Mosh Zu and Lola Lockwood Sidorio. Swashbuckling fun, ideal to keep young imaginations fuelled.

/reviews by Sarah Webb/

It’s not quite everything but here’s a round up from the papers last week – starting at home with the the Irish Independent’s low down on Oliver Jeffers’ The Heart and the Bottle and Philip Pullman’s The Good Man Jesus And The Scoundrel Christ.

Katriona McFadden reviews the latest new releases with the gang on the Afternoon Show

Hughes & Hughes is on the verge of a come back in Dublin – with Easons buying up some of the chain’s stores.

Susie Mesure talks to Brian Wildsmith – who has a museum in his honour in Japan! Who knew?!

Oiliva Laing reads Michael Chabon on entertainment and writing -

Chabon’s brilliant, heartening sense of the writer as swashbuckler, advancing into unmapped territory in search of, if not the truth, at the very least a whopping story.

Mary Hoffman reads Gillian Cross’ Where I Belong and Geraldine Brennan reads John Mayhew’s Mortlock.

Mal Peet reviews David Yelland’s debut The Truth About Leo.

Yelland’s desire to depict addiction and redemption is so earnest that it drives out plausibility. Leo and Flora do not think, act or speak like 10-year-old children. Often, they mimic unconvincingly the dialogue of an AA meeting or some other therapeutic encounter. The portrait of the mother is a sentimental hagiography. The supporting characters, including the PM and his press secretary (both dilutions from The Thick of It), are barely two-dimensional. Narrative incidents are impossible (ever tried to shake an oak tree?).

A charity shop digs up an old Beano issue – that could be worth £2,000!

Stephanie Meyer’s Twilight books joined the ranks of those most frequently requested to be banned from US libraries.

Imogen Russell Williams plays games with the books she reads.

The Sunday Times has a read of the good, bad and everything in between in children’s lit.

Darren Shan gets a leg up from Spurs goalie Carlo Cudicini in a drive for boys to read more books! (Though a Spurs goalie plugging your book might not help sales!)

The folks at MacMillan Kids talk up their visit to Bologna.

Scroobius Pip, rapper and one half of the music duo with Dan le Sac, is hitting the bookshelves with a graphic book of poetry.

Alice hits Wonderland (via the iPad)

Publishers Weekly has their regular Children’s Book Reviews slot – including Bernard Waber, Béatrice Rodriguez, Jennifer LaRue Huget and Paolo Bacigalupi.

And for no reason at all – I really like the look of this!!

With the addition of so many apps for kids (iPhone/iPad etc.) and Rupert Murdoch talking paywalls and copyright over content it is interesting to see Egmont’s new web-model:

A subscription-based website.

Following in the shadow of Puffin’s We Make Stories – Egmont’s I Can Learn is an online version of the hard copy series.

I’m really curious to see how it works – and if it is successful what will follow! Anyone planning to try it out?

This post does exactly what it says on the tin: Mo Willems hits the cover of Time:

The Radio Times feature a sneak peak inside the new Tardis (alongside some classic shots):

Do you like knowing what makes things tick? Or want to find out how to make things explode? Or do you know someone who really just likes to figure things out? Have you had enough questions? How about some answers!

RTÉ are launching a new science show – and they are looking for victims volunteers to compete. They’re looking for teams of three, aged between 10 and 12, who can work together, figure science stuff out, put clues together and can run REALLY fast…

Then this might be for you… Or someone you know. Or someone yiu don’t know… Head over to rte.ie to find out more. (Closing date is 26 February)

Kevin Clash – the man behind the muppet – speaks to TIME.

When you do live events with children and Elmo, do they see you?
Some of the time they do. Most of the time they don’t. But I’m telling you, they just see me holding their friend. They don’t know me from a hole in the wall and they don’t care to.

You’re that guy hanging out with Elmo.
I’m the guy holding their friend. Ever since I’ve been doing Sesame Street that’s been the case. They don’t care about us.

And if that doesn’t give you enough of a Sesame Street fix – have a look at what happened when Elmo met Ricky Gervais.

For reasons known only to themselves the nice folks on the Sean Moncrieff show at Newstalk have asked me to pay them a visit this afternoon. Where? In the window of M&S on Grafton Street no less! (aka the busiest street in Dublin)

So from about 3.30pm later I’ll be talking fairytales, Humpty Dumpty and ‘creative reasons’. Tune in or drop down to heckle – I’ll be the one wearing glass slippers and following the trail of breadcrumbs!

To celebrate the launch of Judi Curtin’s Alice to the Rescue, O’Brien press have launched a mini-site for everyone’s favourite duo – Alice and Megan.

The site got me thinking of other recent sites, like The Moorehawke Trilogy, Amy Green or the Demon’s Lexicon and the purpose of a mini-site.

In the wake of Paths to Publications I’ve started to think about the best ways to publicise a book on/offline.

All four of the writers mentioned have large web presences already – why not just incorporate the publicity into the author sites? (An aliceandmegan.com address with a redirect to Judi’s site for instance?) Surely readers would prefer to read the author’s blog/comments more than just the publicity for the new book?

There is plenty about all of this on the web already – Marlene Stringer for starters.

“Promotion is not only about the book, it is about the author. It is about branding.”

Or Thad McIlroy’s ‘what makes a great author wesbite?‘ Then there’s the Nick Cave’s of the world, producing iPhone app ebooks with music composed and preformed for the book by the Bad Seeds…

In coming years we may look back on Bunny Munro as the book with which digital publishing came of age. An e-book which harnesses the power of what digital books can do by combining colour, moving images, social networking and audio to make something that is, arguably, in some ways a new medium.

And there is always Bubble Cow’s outlook – that publisher’s blogs are just pants anyway.

Readers/writers don’t really want to read about the books publishers are selling. We want to read something informative/educational/amusing/controversial. We want to connect and feel part of the process.

CLICK TO ENLARGE

Frank Cotrell Boyce will be our hitting screens at 8.30pm Monday (31 August) with a BBC adaptation of Framed. Book the telly time, set your digi-box or slap a blank disc in the recorder – whatever it is you have to do.

This is a certified and recommended must-be-watched.

UPDATE:

The show isn’t going out until Monday 31 August on BBC1 at 8.30pm, not Sunday as previously mentioned. (via achokablog>

Those young enough to be going back to school are donning uniforms, pulling on shoes and strapping up bags and it looks like a few publishers are pulling up their socks too. Specifically, Children’s Books Ireland, David Fickling Books and Barry Cunningham’s Chicken House are all mid-makeover.

DFB is first out – with a stylish and very easily navigated site. There’s plenty of new content – including chapters 1 – 5 of Mark Haddon’s new tome Boom! And if that wasn’t incentive enough – the nice marketing people at Random House are giving away 500 copies of Philip Pullman’s Once Upon a Time in the North.

CBI launched their cb info resource – a massive addition to the site with articles from reviewers, publishers, authors, agents, teachers, librarians, funding organisations and pretty much every other facet of Irish children’s books. Have a read of Robert Dunbar’s Reviewing of Children’s Books – ye won’t be sorry!

And if all that wasn’t enough to keep ye going, Chicken House are poised to follow suit – their new site goes live on 1 September…Keep your fingers on the refresh button folks!

Irish writers, readers, publicists, booksellers, companies and other who-be-whats-its are joining twitter – and I’ve come across truck loads more in past two weeks considering the idea. (And then the questions start…  How does it work and why would anyone want to know what I had for breakfast?)

It isn’t about what you had for breakfast. Nobody really wants to know about soggy cornflakes with no sugar (no, sugar?! euch)

It is about communication, with a lot of people, sharing information, ideas, articles and anything else they come across. Have you found a book that you couldn’t put down? Or a press-release that you can’t wait to share? Send it out in 140 characters or less (just like a text message) to people who are interested.

For writers it is a gateway to people (especially anyone facing deadlines and can’t leave the keyboard). For booksellers it is a goldmine – have a look at how Chapters, Easons and Ravenbooks are using it. Publishers and marketing gurus are everywhere – offering advance copies, spreading the word on new titles and building excitement about upcoming authors.

Then there are the gazillions of readers who debate books, suggest titles, ask questions about writers/publishers/booksellers. And if you’re not there – you can’t answer those questions or tell that terrible joke you heard at lunch last week.

I can think of at least a dozen Irish YA and children’s writers who should be online – and I’d love the chance to ask ‘em questions.

Log on, say hello and get talking.

(Have a click here for a list of 100 interesting book tweople – just to get ye started or click below for some of the Irish contingent online)

(more…)

Poor Dave, forced to trek around the horrible old earth. He doesn’t have half the time for trawling through the Sunday spreads like i do.

He’ll miss this interesting little piece in The Guardian, The Giant of Modern Literature?

I’m guessing he already has the answer sussed. Wish I was on holidays…..

I’m a little late with the paper reviews – yesterday was spent recuperating from a chocolate hangover the likes of which have never been seen. Hope ye all had an eggsellent weekend too.

Niall MacMonagle appeared in the Irish Times last weekend with a round up of teen fiction including Life Interrupted, Colony, Guantanamo Boy, Falling, Shadow Bringer and The Hunger Games.

Young readers often prefer crash-bang excitement but those quieter reading moments that heighten the emotional, psychological and spiritual prove vital on the teenage reading path.

Over at the Irish Independent – Declan Burke appears championing the crime writers battling it out in the Irish Book Awards.

The Observer gave way for an Easter book round-up – starting with Kate Kellaway looking at new books for readers 2 years and up. Stephanie Merritt took on readers 8-12 and Lisa O’Kelly read some great new titles for 12-16 year olds, including Julia Donaldson’s Running on the Cracks.

Nicolette Jones in the Times UK reviews the The Barefoot Book of Earth Tales while Amanda Craig reviews Helen Grant’s The Vanishing of Katharina Linden and Jane Eagland’s Wildthorn.

Wildthorn follows a pattern familiar to admirers of Sarah Waters, with an unconventional love affair proving the key to Louisa’s escape. It is a bold and thrilling read.

Mary Hoffman in the Guardian reviews Jenny Valentine’s The Ant Colony.

Valentine has moved into new territory. Not geographically – we are still in the sometimes mean streets of Camden Town and Chalk Farm – so much as emotionally.

Back in the Irish Times Donald Clarke investigates the world of movie adaptations – opening with:

Harry Potter fans are not happy. A recent Chicago screening of the upcoming Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince generated a typhoon of internet posts from disappointed acolytes. Apparently, they’ve changed the ending. They’ve inserted too much romance. They’ve cut an important series of “memories”.

And sticking with the screen… The papers are agog with reviews, news and interviews of Sky’s adaptation of Skellig. John Patterson talks to Tim Roth in the Guardian. Tom Sutcliffe in the Independent UK reviews the show. And Gareth McLean breaks the news that Sky, armed with a decent budget, are planning to continue making new, interesting adaptations under the eye of commissioning editor of Elaine Pyke.

And there’s more!

Japan are planning to export Manga as a means to increasing their revenue (Guardian)
Staying with Manag – DragonballZ gets a 2 star rating (Times UK)
Graham Linehan tells us what he’d like to see next (Independent UK)
Education is new Teachers versus Television according to some (Independent UK)
The interweb is lamenting the loss of Go4it (Awfully Big Blog Adventure)
Philip French reviews the original Let the Right One In, before the US remake (Guardian)
JK Rowling stepped down as a patron of Multiple Sclerosis Society Scotland (NY Times)
How much do authors owe their readers? (Guardian Book Blog)
And finally – Tor.com has an introduction to all of the Hugo nominated artists.

It’s Easter weekend (translate ‘Easter’ as CHOC-O-LATE!!) And with all that chocolate comes TV – alongside the regular showing of blockbusters, action flicks and some animated specials there are some really great movies.

Starting with tonight… On BBC 1 at 8.30pm there is another chance to see Wallace and Gromit: A Matter of Loaf and Death. It went out over Christmas but is one definitely worth a second watch – I’m really starting to believe that Gromit should be working for MI6.

Later tonight – on TV3 is Roddy Doyle’s The Snapper. If you’re older than 25 then this movie should need no introduction. And if you don’t know it… well get watching!

And one more – already picked up by Achoka and the VHC – is the adaptation of David Almond’s Skellig on Sunday at 7pm on Sky 1. Skellig was one of my favourite books growing up and I’ve stayed a huge Almond fan ever since. So there is no bias in recommending that you stay in this Sunday, curl up with a chocolate egg or three and enjoy the show!

Some more suggested radio listening – thankfully not me talking about fairytales and pooing moles. This time it is the epic heroes of Irish children’s books, Robert Dunbar and Siobhan Parkinson, who appeared on the Arts Show earlier this week to talk about they know best. (Hint, its books!)

Over 20 minutes they manage to cover Michelle Magorian’s recent Costa book award, cross-over fiction (books that appeal to children and adults alike), the makings of a children’s book, JK Rowling and recurring themes, Irish writing old and new as well the state of indigenous children’s publishing and quality control.

If you haven’t heard it – get yourself a-clicking. Not to be missed.

Oliver Jeffer’s brilliant Lost and Found has been adapted as a 30 minute short for television by Studio aka. So set your vision-boxes to Channel Four at half two this afternoon (or half twelve on Stephens’ Day) and enjoy the eye-candy.

More over on the studio aka site.

The final installment of the BBC Four series on children’s literature – Now We Are Growing Up – airs tonight at 9pm. The show features interviews with Philip Pullman, Jacqueline Wilson, Eoin Colfer, David Almond, Ralph Steadman and Dave McKean.

More on the series here and here.

The second part of BBC Four’s series exploring childhood reading – Now We are Six – is on tonight at 9. Looking at classic books, from Alice in Wonderland to The Wind in the Willows, Winnie the Pooh, the works of Roald Dahl, Raymond Briggs and Voices in the Park by Anthony Browne. Philip Pullman, Jacqueline Wilson, Anthony Horowitz and Quentin Blake all make appearances too.

Those who got to see last weeks episode tell me it was interesting, useful and was preceded by a great documentary about the life and times of Kenneth Grahame. Tonight’s preceding writer is E Nesbit, the lady behind The Railway Children.

If anyone needs me, I’ll be peaking in through the window next door. They have digital… More about the three part series here.

Tonight on BBC Four (one for all you digital heads) When we were very young – a series exploring childhood reading – the first episode focuses on picture books with interviews, readings and demonstrations from Michael Rosen, Shirley Hughes, Alan Ahlberg and Lauren Child.

The second episode, Now We are Six, will look at classic books, from Alice in Wonderland to The Wind in the Willows, Winnie the Pooh and The Lion the Witch and the Wardrobe and feature Philip Pullman, Jacqueline Wilson, Anthony Horowitz, Quentin Blake and Raymond Briggs.

So go watch the clip from tonight’s show and then tune in at 9pm tonight on BBC 4 (repeats until Sunday) See, some TV just shouldn’t be missed.

The Arts Council has announced a one day conference, New Media, New Audience?,  aimed at Arts Council funded organisations and policy makers that are interested in “the potential that new media has on the way in which they work, and in the way it can attract and broaden audiences.”

The conference is free and has some really great speakers – including Charles Leadbeater, Damien Mulley, Conn Ó Muí­neacháin, Dermod Moore and plenty more who-be-whats-its of web the world, including yours truly.

Plenty of topics and workshops to get people looking at new media formats – so if you want to know your twitter from elbow; or your facebook from your bebo then you probably should tag along. There is a website to boot – and all of the talks and discussion will appear as podcasts after the curtain has closed.

Congratulations to Inkheart and Carbags, and everyone, who read at last nights Children’s Theatre Festival’s New Writer Slam. (Thanks to the Flip Flop organisers – especially Valerie – and to Sarah Webb, Conor Kostick and all round funny woman, Aislinn O’Loughlin too) Had a great night, including the midnight snacking in Eddie Rockets afterwards.

And there is still loads happening – including the launch of Siobhán Parkinson’s new book Dialann Sár-Runda Amy Ní Chonchúir in Pearse Street library in Dublin this morning. And then later today the launch of Conor Kostick’s Move tonight at 6 in the Stephens Green Shopping Centre (Dublin).

I managed to miss the launch of Monster Kid’s Rampage a month ago – the Very Hungry Caterpillar nudged me in the right direction. The new blog on the block has some really great interviews with who-be-wots-its, book reviews and news from the book world.

Definitely one for the bookmarks and RSS readers. And it has one of the best urls I’ve seen in ages – carbags.wordpress.com (I’m looking forward to hearing the story behind it)

And while I’m at it – have you read any of these other rampaging monsters?

Stony River Farm, Sinead Keogh, Brian Coldrick, Niamh Sharkey, PJ Lynch and Achockablog

The journo’s have started up the smoke machines, donned their best towels (on their heads, don’t be rude) and polished up their crystal balls to have a look at what is coming up over the next few months in television and books.

TV this Autumn is covered on the times.co.uk – one of my highlights has to be Merlin on BBC One:

No Robin Hood this autumn (that’s back in the new year); Saturday teatimes will instead get a magical, Arthurian makeover. Colin Morgan will star as the fledgling wizard, opposite Richard Wilson, Anthony Head, Michelle Ryan and a dragon sounding suspiciously like John Hurt.

And in books Suzi Feay over in the Indepenent UK has a look at what will be the next big thing -

And the next big children’s book is… about a bunch of kids in a boarding school! Andy Mulligan’s Ribblestrop (Simon & Schuster, April 2009) is a hilarious and morally questionable tale about a disastrous school whose pupils can be counted on the fingers of one hand. The building was falling down even before a disaffected pupil set fire to it. Health and safety is non-existent, rebuilding and DIY forms a major part of the curriculum, and a donkey sanctuary occupies the playing fields. The book’s hapless hero, Sam, is concussed, scalded and stripped of most of his clothes in the very first chapter. Ribblestrop has the “crazy school” appeal of Hogwarts and the grim humour of Lemony Snicket, and looks like a winner.

It’ll be interesting to see how the predictions fair once the smoke clears… In the mean time I’m off to find a beginners guide to tarot cards.

A few quick clippings from the papers over the last few days:

> Deirdre Falvey has a look at children’s festivals throughout October – no mention of the Book Festival though which is really odd… (irishtimes.com)
> Frank Cotrell Boyce looks at Terry Pratchett’s new book – Nation (guardian.co.uk)
> Adele Geras enjoys Eva Ibbotson’s The Dragonfly Pool (guardian.co.uk)
> UK children’s minister, Ed Balls, is against age-branding on books (guardian.co.uk)
> Amanda Craig looks at three books featuring well-known heroes as children (times.co.uk)
> I’m sure I linked to this already but: Philip Pullman’s Essential Reading List (times.co.uk)
> Stephanie Meyer’s new book has been put on indefinite hold after a draft was leaked online (times.co.uk)
> Star of MTV’s reality show The Hills Lauren Conrad is working on a young adult fiction series (rte.ie)
> UTV’s new sitcom, No Heroics, following the everyday lives of British superheroes kicks off next Thursday (Guardian.co.uk)

Right, back to nursing a hangover. Ugh.

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.

News is out – The Irish Times is going free from tomorrow (crumbling to the might of the Jazz Biscuit Paywall campaign?) Eoin and Damien posted about it yesterday with some reactions in the comments.

Another small piece of newspaper news appeared in yesterdays guardian (via Cedar Lounge) – Dunnes Stores across Ireland will no longer be stocking the Guardian or the Observer newspapers following a dispute over ‘commercial terms’.

And just so the Independent doesn’t feel left out (and because it’s a blog about Childrens’ Books) Alison Walsh has a generic ‘what’s out for young readers this summer’ list that covers pretty much every taste.

Caught up with some bloggers (Darragh, Sinéad C – who seemed genuinely distraught by boyish face – and Laura) over the weekend – but managed to miss The Spanish Exposition’s look at the Irish Blogosphere until today. Rosie’s post hits on/near something, I think, that needed to be said – and some of the comments make for interesting reading.

There used to be a time when all Irish bloggers could fit around three tables in the Market Bar. The Irish blogging community is larger now and I doubt that most know who blog in various niches now. – Bernie Goldbach. (BG’s site)

As for the blogosphere itself this is an interesting post. I wrote something vaguely similar a couple of years ago. As the scene matures it’ll will splinter, that’s normal. – Twenty Major. (Twenty’s site)

Others have takes on it too: Le Craic, Alexia, Darragh, Colm, Jazz Biscuit – and more…
Update: Rick O’S has an interesting post take on things too…

And in other news:

> HAPPY BLOOMSDAY!

> Sinéad G is leaving the Sigla blog – the best Arts and Culture blog, three years running.

> The Dublin Writers Festival Blog has some reviews – Esther Freud, Tom Stoppard and the Irish Values Debate.

> Rob got a haircut. (In case you missed it, this is an all inclusive Irish bloggers post)

> Rapture Ponies is excited. Really excited. You will be too, when you see the trailer for the new Coen Brothers movie.

> The Sunday Tribune website has gotten a clean up. (It looks very like Independent.ie)

> And, not Irish, not even a little, but well worth reading. Sigmund Freud vs The Male Nurse.