Saturday, March 3, 2012

Heading Down Under Again!

Yes, the rumours (and, er, the announcement in the back of a few books) are true- 2012 will see my second trip to Australia and New Zealand for a Skulduggery tour. I will spend two weeks in August- from the 6th to the 20th- going around meeting the Minions-who-talk-funny and signing whatever they have to sign. The first few days will be spent in NZ, then off to Oz. Details, such as exactly which cities I'll be visiting, shall be forthcoming as soon as I have them. I actually have no input into where I visit because my publishers do all the arranging, and I just go where I'm told to go.

My last tour, in 2010, was a huge success and every single day I was startled by the reaction. It was exhausting, with an astonishing amount of travel, but so worth it.

When I get back home, I have a little over a week to recover before the Ireland/UK tour kicks off. We're going to be doing something different this year- instead of heading over to the UK for 10 straight days, I'll be heading over for three weekends in a row. The plan is to pack as many signings in as possible on days when none of you will have school or college or work, so hopefully you can come along if you haven't had a chance to before. Again, further details will be available once I have them.

And now for something completely different...

How did you enjoy World Book Day? I know, I know, different countries have World Book Day at different times of the year, and some countries don't have World Book Day at all, so, the very term itself is kind of misleading... but ANYWAY...

I had a very good World Book Day, thank you very much. I was over in London with a bunch of other writers for a huge webcast thingy that was broadcast to three quarters of a million students across Ireland and the UK and, I don't know, possibly elsewhere. We each had five minutes onstage, which isn't a whole lot of time. I ended up talking about my dogs, for some reason. It was manic, but amusing.

Behind the scenes, however, was where the real fun was taking place. Put ten authors in a room, especially authors who write for young people, and after a while things are going to get slightly odd. And when a camera comes out to record interviews? Oh dearie me. I'm sure they'll be posted on worldbookday.com soon enough, so you can watch as responsible adults (such as me) turn into immature kids as we try to make each other laugh. Fun and games galore with Andy Stanton and Steve Cole and Chris Bradford, while Cressida Cowell looked on in astonishment. Eoin Colfer wasn't above having a bit of a lark himself, but Holly Webb and Jeremy Strong did the wise thing and stayed well away from the rest of us. Jacqueline Wilson, meanwhile, must have wondered what the hell was going on.

To end the webcast, we all trotted back onstage to meet The Duchess of Cornwall. I'm completely ignorant about all things royal family-ish, and I may have forgotten to stop chewing gum when I was shaking her hand. But I DID smile and say "pleased to meet you", so that was something, wasn't it? At least I didn't have my hands in my pockets, like Ronan O'Gara did when the Queen met the Irish rugby team.


Which, I have to say, I think is hilariously dim.

Annnnnyway...

I've been on TV quite a lot lately, and it's all thanks to World Book Day, so thank you, World Book Day, for interfering with my writing week. I was on the Alan Titchmarsh Show, which most of you know about, and then I was on Live With Gabby on Channel 5 a few days later, then I was on Elev8 on RTE yesterday, and on Tuesday morning I'll be on Ireland Am on TV3...

Good GOD. I'll be sick of myself, I swear I will.

And I can't even get away from myself in newspapers, either. The Guardian asked me to list my ten favourite villains from YA/children's fiction, and you can see if you agree with me by clicking here http://www.guardian.co.uk/childrens-books-site/2012/mar/01/derek-landy-top-ten?newsfeed=true .

( I didn't include any of MY villains, because obviously mine would be best, and I'm far too modest to proclaim that in a national newspaper.)

Okay, that's enough babbling. It's 2:30 in the afternoon and I haven't eaten anything yet. Must make lunch.


Oh! One last thing! Take a look at this video- http://www.standup.ie/index/ - which promotes standing up to homophobic bullying. I mean, life is hard enough to get through without bullies making things worse, and the only decent thing to do is stand up for your friends when they need you.


And NOW I'm going to make lunch.



4,809 comments:

«Oldest   ‹Older   4201 – 4400 of 4809   Newer›   Newest»
Reflector said...

I believe the one they offer as "new" that costs the amount all other pb SP books do is probably the one I want...

Reflector said...

sorry lav, but...?

nights.raven said...

back

Lavender Hope said...

*sighs now*
my mom wants to take them away until my school work's done... which still will take forever!

*sighs again*

i'm sorry to be like this now... but it's been hard for me...

Hi Raven... I don't think we met yet. I'm Lavender. :) nice to meet you.

Reflector said...

Hi raven!

nights.raven said...

Hi Lavender, nice to meet u too *hands cookie*

nights.raven said...

hi thrust!

Reflector said...

*munches on -* wait that's for lavender....

Lavender Hope said...

HEY! My cookie!

nights.raven said...

KALLISTAKINS! *is hugged and noogied* *hugs back*

nights.raven said...

*hands lavender another cookie*

Lavender Hope said...

*sigh*

I got to go eat dinner now... bb later!

Lavender Hope said...

*takes cookie as I leave*
Thank you!

nights.raven said...

bye lavender!

Reflector said...

bye, lav!

nights.raven said...

*hopes kal doesnt drop a blueberry on her head*

nights.raven said...

np lavender

Reflector said...

blue berries are small.
If anything, they'd land on you shoes and splatter on your socks leaving you in uncomftorble mess

nights.raven said...

...
well, thats SO much better :P

Reflector said...

*uncomfortable

Reflector said...

I feel like I'm being watched...

Lavender Hope said...

Back quickly then i have to go again.

Raven, I saw on your profile that you live in the USA. So do I! :) please check out my blog.

I post videos of me singing and I would like you to see them.

please start at the FIRST POST though. here's the link:
http://lavenderhopestoryblog.blogspot.com/

the post at the top is one that I made... cause I wasn't supposed to come back here for a while, but I couldn't help it! :P so i'm back anyway...

nights.raven said...

*wonders where the banana came from*

nights.raven said...

ok lavender, ill check it out

Lavender Hope said...

plus, to everyone, i'm going to try to play guitar with my next song... but that's slow progress. sorry!

nights.raven said...

night kal! *hugs*

Lavender Hope said...

bye Kal!

Raven, did you take a look yet?

nights.raven said...

yeah
and btw, i love all the cat pics

Lavender Hope said...

Yeah and I have, like, tons more! :P I got them all from the internet... I like cats :)

Zathract Mist said...

I'm still not here.

Lavender Hope said...

Okay. Hi then, Mist who is not here.

Zathract Mist said...

I'll how on again in a few hours

Zathract Mist said...

1st

Zathract Mist said...

1st

Zathract Mist said...

1st

nights.raven said...

okie mist

@lavender
lol i can tell :P

nights.raven said...

congratz mist!

nights.raven said...

night kal! again *hugs*

Zathract Mist said...

This page goes to Eve the ROCK.

I'm 2 pages ahead now, Eve. You arent gonna catch up. ;)

Zathract Mist said...

Night Kal

Zathract Mist said...

Now I need to remember to tease her about it again tonight

Lavender Hope said...

Bye again Kal!

sorry, had to go for a min.

nights.raven said...

its ok, lavender

Lavender Hope said...

so... Raven, did you see my songs?

just curious to know what you have to say about it. sorry. :P

nights.raven said...

well, i just listened to 'the Rose' and u have a good voice :) i liked it

Lavender Hope said...

:) thank you.

Zathract Mist said...

Now I gtg again, if Eve comes on tell her I'm another page and comment ahead of her.

Bye!!

nights.raven said...

bye mist, kk

Lavender Hope said...

My first one was 'the call'. I think that could have been my best... but i'll let you decide that.

Lavender Hope said...

Bye mist!

nights.raven said...

ok, just watched 'the call'
very well done *applaudes* u have a really good voice

Valkyrie V. - Ivy said...

HELLO AGAIN!

nights.raven said...

wb val!

Lavender Hope said...

*bows* :P
Thank you! :)


Hi Val!

nights.raven said...

brb

Valkyrie V. - Ivy said...

I was gone for a while... But I'm not back for long!

Lavender Hope said...

okay. see ya Raven!

Valkyrie V. - Ivy said...

Hi Lavender!

Lavender Hope said...

okay Val. I'll be here as long as I can.

Lavender Hope said...

:)

Just practicing guitar. :P

Valkyrie V. - Ivy said...

Hmmm... If I disappear, don't be surprised....

Lavender Hope said...

okay. sorry for the late comments. :P

nights.raven said...

back

Lavender Hope said...

hi again Raven! :)

Anna_Bee said...

O DEREK! I AM HERE TO LEAVE YOU AN EGO BOOST!

First of all, I absolutely LOVED "The End of the World." Skulduggery and Valkyrie at their usual best, as expected, but it amazes me, the impressive plot twists you can pull of in just 127 pages. You, sir, are incredible.

But more importantly, I wanted to tell of my most recent evangelical Skulduggery success. I have a friend with dyslexia, and because of this, she has always hated reading. But she heard me and another friend fangirl over your books so often, she decided to give it a try.

She's devouring them.

She started the series about two weeks ago, and I just gave her MORTAL COIL today. Thought you'd like to know: the first book of the series is the very first book my friend, a junior in high school, has ever finished completely on her own, without the aid of a parent, adult, or audio book.

It's quite grand. Hope you feel all fuzzy inside now.

nights.raven said...

hi again lavender!

hi fantasyfreak0

Lavender Hope said...

*sighs*

I wish i could do better with this guitar stuff... then I can give you guys my next song... but I'll get it eventually. :)

:P

Lavender Hope said...

i have to go in 20 mins... but I'm still here now, and I will hopefully be back later.

nights.raven said...

okie

Anonymous said...

Wait where's meh last comment!?

Lavender Hope said...

like I said, though, I'm still here now. :)

Lavender Hope said...

hi AmeriMinion.

nights.raven said...

i know lavender, i was just saying ok.

hi AmeriMinion

Lavender Hope said...

Hey, Raven? What are you doing now?

Lavender Hope said...

cool. I got comment 4444.

Valkyrie V. - Ivy said...

PASTA~

Lavender Hope said...

Sorry gotta go now...

*sigh then mumbles*

Mum's here... XP

GAH!

won't be able to come back tonight, after this... Sorry.

BYE EVERYONE WHO'S HERE!!!

nights.raven said...

nothing really, just watching TV

Lavender Hope said...

NOT COMING BACK!

nights.raven said...

bye lavender!

Anonymous said...

Okay, everyone! I had a BIG question, and I cant find my last comment. How do I do this?

Valkyrie V. - Ivy said...

'This' isn't very descriptive. You have to be more specific.

Anonymous said...

Well, I commented 2 days earlier/ I had a Q for Mr. Landy. How do i find if he answered?

Anonymous said...

and, why the hell did my name just change? 0-o

Anonymous said...

i need to find it,

Anonymous said...

o-o

Valkyrie V. - Ivy said...

You still aren't making much sense to me... Although, I'm pretty tired, so that may be why...

Anonymous said...

HELLO!?

nights.raven said...

i gtg, ill try and be back tomorrow sometime, night all! *hands everyone cookies*

Anonymous said...

Sorry, i thought no one was here. How do I find my previous comments?

Anonymous said...

gtg to bed, someone?

Anonymous said...

argh! stupid blog!

Anonymous said...

Damn all this!

Valkyrie V. - Ivy said...

Why don't you try the "Older" button by the number of comments? Just go back pages until you find it.

Anonymous said...

*mumbles*

Anonymous said...

There 4000 fricken comments! Sorry. midnight anger

Anonymous said...

I tried looking for the 'edit' and then the 'look for', but my fricken dell sucks.

Anonymous said...

I tried copying comments onto word and looking from there. No luck

Anonymous said...

*mumbles*

Anonymous said...

DEREK LANDY! O OVERLORD GOLDEN GOD! I HEREBY BEG YOUR PARDON FOR ASKING YOU THIS QUESTION! DID YOU ANSWER MY LAST QUESTION!? I AM AMERICANMINION>:), BUT SOMEHOW MY NAME CHANGED --o-0--SO, DO YOU HAVE AN ANSWER FOR ME!? PLEASE, O GOLDEN GOD!?

Anonymous said...

IF NOT, PLEASE, PLEASE, PLEASE ANSWER MY QUESTION IN YOUR NEXT POST! BTW, I LOVED THE PART WHERE CRAVEN ACCIDENTALLY KILLS ---SPOILER ALERT--THE DEATH BRINGER!

Anonymous said...

*chuckles at craven's clumsiness and the faces of 500 bloggers just tricked*

Anonymous said...

hello?

Anonymous said...

Oh



























































































overlord









































golden god































































hello!

Anonymous said...

Derek? Mr. Landy? Mr. Totallyawesomeoverlordgoldengod?

Anonymous said...

Damn >:(
My trollin' scared everyone away! :(

Anonymous said...

Well, MR. LANDY! I HAVE TO GO TO BED! IT'S 11:21 HERE IN AMERICA, AND I HAVE TO SAY, GOODNIGHT! AND THANK YOU FOR ALL THE FISH!
*more Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy References*
WRITE ON!

Anonymous said...

I just had, like, 200 comments in a row, all mine. :(

Valkyrie V. - Ivy said...

It's not 11 whatever here in America. It's only 8 something. Although, you're probably on the East Coast...

Anonymous said...

Yargh!

Valkyrie V. - Ivy said...

*looks at Ameriminon oddly* ...yargh?

Valkyrie V. - Ivy said...

I have to go, bye!

Sparky Braginski said...

Hello?

Ebony Law said...

Oh, noes. Soon we'll reach the 5000 comment limit. But, then again, I suppose we'll just go to an older post...




Hai.

Jakro Tintreach said...

hello people!

Ebony Law said...

Jakro...

Why do you come on here? You know everyone hates you. [Not me, but I don't even KNOW you]

Jakro Tintreach said...

Everyone doesn't hate me, just some of them... like mist

Jakro Tintreach said...

must eat noodles now, will be back later

Sparky Braginski said...

I don't hate you Jakro.

I on't hate you Dylan.

Dylan, don't say things ilk that, it's mean.

Sparky Braginski said...

...Hello?

Ebony Law said...

Hay. Ima here.

Sparky Braginski said...

Back.

Eve the ROCK said...

SLAUGHTERHOUSE!!!

Sparky Braginski said...

HOUSE OF SLAUGHTER!!!

Ebony Law said...

Eve!


-Grabs and throws at tree-

Sparky Braginski said...

...In other words, HI EVE!!!

Eve the ROCK said...

Hehe. Hi Sparrrrrky!

Sparky Braginski said...

Uh...Dylan...

*sniggers*

Jakro Tintreach said...

PANDA!!!!!

Jakro Tintreach said...

DEATH!

Jakro Tintreach said...

I'm depressed

Sparky Braginski said...

Then I'm going.

Jakro Tintreach said...

NO... SPARKY, STAY HERE!!!!!

Sparky Braginski said...

Why should I?

Jakro Tintreach said...

Why should you leave?????

Sparky Braginski said...

Because when I tried to make people happier yesterday all it did was make things worse.

Eve the ROCK said...

*remembers*

Jakro Tintreach said...

hmmm... I kinda feel partly responsible for that, but I have an idea... If someone does something that is harmful to the citizens of blogland(ie. starting pointless fights, or Insulting people) we just ignore them

Sparky Braginski said...

No, because that just makes them worse, and it gets people all grumpified.

I've just decided that I can't solve the problem and I shouldn't have taken upon myself to fix things in the first place.

*leans back into chair*

I'm just not bothering, you people do and behave how you want to each other, I'll just sit here eating popcorn on the sidelines.

Ebony Law said...

Jakro... out of all people, YOU say that and you expect us to actually buy it? You don't have a very good reputation on this, so you need to rewrite it.

Jakro Tintreach said...

OOH... popcorn, do I get any?????

Sparky Braginski said...

Dylan, you just did what we call 'the pot calling the kettle black'

But, I'm not contributing to this inevitable fight any further.

Eve the ROCK said...

New Blog post! Pictures of my Doggy!

http://evetherockblog.blogspot.com.au/

Sparky Braginski said...

There is no popcorn, I was making a point.

Jakro Tintreach said...

huh, where'd dylan go

Sparky Braginski said...

I already looked at that Eve!

Eve the ROCK said...

Oh Yay! My doggy is adorablicious!

Jakro Tintreach said...

I know someone from my school who is from australia... do all of you call shrimp: 'prawns'?

Sparky Braginski said...

Prawns.

Jakro Tintreach said...

Dammit, you sound just like Toby

Eve the ROCK said...

I thought it was two different things...but I don't know a thing about sea food. I HATE seafood.

Jakro Tintreach said...

He said there was an octopus in a hole, and it killed fish... and he saw it... and it was PURPLE!!!!!

Sparky Braginski said...

I second Eve's notion.

Jakro Tintreach said...

YAYYYYY... arent Prawns just big shrimp?

Eve the ROCK said...

Just googled it. It's two different things, although you can't tell the difference just by looking at it.

Eve the ROCK said...

Miiiiisstttyyyyy.....*ghost voice*

Jakro Tintreach said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Eve the ROCK said...

Argh! Too much knowledge! *head explodes*

Jakro Tintreach said...

WHY CAN'T DEREK COME HERE?????????

Sparky Braginski said...

I just saw the mass of text and skipped the comment.

Sparky Braginski said...

Because it's 5:41 am for him.

Jakro Tintreach said...

I meant to america dummy

Eve the ROCK said...

I have to go now. Bye!

Sparky Braginski said...

Bye Eve!

Well by 'here' I thought you meant Blogland.

It was a fairly safe assumption.

Jakro Tintreach said...

hmm... PINEAPLE

Zathract Mist said...

I missed her by less than a minute!

Jakro Tintreach said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Zathract Mist said...

Or by 2. Whatever works

Jakro Tintreach said...

star, they are two different things, and... COMMENTS!!!!!!!

Zathract Mist said...

*growls*

I'm not taking part in another one of these silences. And Eve is gone. So bye!

Jakro Tintreach said...

Am going now, BYE!!!!!

Sparky Braginski said...

Right when I was just getting into the new poem I'm writing, mum had to drag me off the laptop...

Zathract Mist said...

I'm here. But I need to go. Will be back in five to ten mins.

Zathract Mist said...

Hi Star. But as I said, I need to go and I'll be back soon

Lavender Hope said...

Star, while I know you're here, I just want to say...

Thank you for that dedication you would have done if you really did get first on that one page back there... You are one of my BEST friends here...

And Sparky?

You are my other one...

*sigh*

Alas! Now I must go again... Bye...

Johanna Remmus (The Mad One) said...

Hi!

Johanna Remmus (The Mad One) said...

My friend is here and she is bieng weird

Johanna Remmus (The Mad One) said...

Her name is Bella and she is crazy.

Johanna Remmus (The Mad One) said...

Bye! gtg

Eve the ROCK said...

I'll be here in 2 mins

Eve the ROCK said...

I'm back, bebe. (bender quote😊)

Eve the ROCK said...

No one's here.

Sparky Braginski said...

I just got back!

Sparky Braginski said...

Eve, would you like to be in the poem I'm writing?

(Everyone gets killed)

Eve the ROCK said...

Ooh yes!

Eve the ROCK said...

I won't be Eve Azure though. I have decided that I have a taken name, but I prefer to be called Eve.

My taken name is Astrid Vanilla! Hehe.

Eve the ROCK said...

But NEVER call me that.

Johanna Remmus (The Mad One) said...

Astrid Vanilla... I like it!

Eve the ROCK said...

Hi Johanna! Do i pronounce your name as Joanna?

Johanna Remmus (The Mad One) said...

My friend Bella is so lame, she hasn't even read SP.

Johanna Remmus (The Mad One) said...

Yes like Joanna, but i prefer being called Jo.

Eve the ROCK said...

Thank you. It reflects many true aspects of me, and I have been very very honest with who I am in this name.

Johanna Remmus (The Mad One) said...

Is it your phones fault?

Eve the ROCK said...

Jo. I like it. I made a Sim called Jo. She's super cool.

Sparky Braginski said...

No, you would be good ol' Eve the ROCK!

Eve the ROCK said...

Bella, Bella, Bella.

Miiiiist!

Johanna Remmus (The Mad One) said...

I play sims! Do you have a profile on the website? I do!
My name on the website is nutbag.

Zathract Mist said...

Hi Astrid. Hehe

Johanna Remmus (The Mad One) said...

Mist! Do not call Eve that name!

Sparky Braginski said...

Oh, because Eve is in it, Zath is too.

«Oldest ‹Older   4201 – 4400 of 4809   Newer› Newest»