Peadar Ó Guilín's Blog, page 6
December 2, 2016
READING, WATCHING, GOOD NEWS
READING
Ah, my dear little friends. It is not my intention to program you -- to flick through the many crevices of your brains with my grease-spotted fingers. But let me subtly suggest that you buy The Call for your loved ones this Christmas?
There are other fine books out there, of course, and I have been reading some of them. Right now, waiting patiently for me to finish this post, is Cathy O'Neil's Weapons of Math Destruction. The author investigates how our blind trust of mathematical formulae has created a self-sustaining vortex of stupidity that wreaks havoc on our society. It's not as mind-altering as Nassim Taleb's Black Swan so far, but I'm really enjoying it all the same.
WATCHING
Westworld continues to entertain, but I have a bad feeling that it's about to spit a great big gob of stupid into my face. Let's see...
In the meantime, Netflix bought The Expanse, so I finally had a chance to watch the first season. I enjoyed it a lot, although I seem to remember the first book of the series ending with more of a bang. Perhaps not. It's been a while.
GOOD NEWS
Good things continue to happen to The Call. New York Public Libraries have chosen it as one of their recommended books for teens for 2016. Another fantastic list from the other end of the US, Texas Tayshas, has put it down as one of their 2017 books to look out for. So, all excellent news!
Meanwhile, in the UK, the Literary Review said I was a "powerful writer" and that The Call was "riveting". Can't complain about that!
YOU
How are you?
Ah, my dear little friends. It is not my intention to program you -- to flick through the many crevices of your brains with my grease-spotted fingers. But let me subtly suggest that you buy The Call for your loved ones this Christmas?
There are other fine books out there, of course, and I have been reading some of them. Right now, waiting patiently for me to finish this post, is Cathy O'Neil's Weapons of Math Destruction. The author investigates how our blind trust of mathematical formulae has created a self-sustaining vortex of stupidity that wreaks havoc on our society. It's not as mind-altering as Nassim Taleb's Black Swan so far, but I'm really enjoying it all the same.
WATCHING
Westworld continues to entertain, but I have a bad feeling that it's about to spit a great big gob of stupid into my face. Let's see...
In the meantime, Netflix bought The Expanse, so I finally had a chance to watch the first season. I enjoyed it a lot, although I seem to remember the first book of the series ending with more of a bang. Perhaps not. It's been a while.
GOOD NEWS
Good things continue to happen to The Call. New York Public Libraries have chosen it as one of their recommended books for teens for 2016. Another fantastic list from the other end of the US, Texas Tayshas, has put it down as one of their 2017 books to look out for. So, all excellent news!
Meanwhile, in the UK, the Literary Review said I was a "powerful writer" and that The Call was "riveting". Can't complain about that!
YOU
How are you?
November 28, 2016
The Call has been nominated for the Leeds Book Awards 2017
I've just come back from the United States where I had an absolutely wonderful time meeting booksellers, librarians and teachers. Brilliant, lovely people one and all!
While I was there, The Call was nominated for The Leeds Book Awards. Am I happy? Well, yes. Very.
I wasn't the only one, of course. Also on the list, is my friend, Liz Flanagan, author of the wonderful Eden Summer, and the great Sarah Pinborough, who wrote one of my favourite reads of last year, The Death House.
Here's the full list for the 14-16 age category:
Eden Summer by Liz Flanagan
The Trap by Alan Gibbons
Orangeboy by Patrice Lawrence
The Call by some guy
13 Minutes by Sarah Pinborough
Broken Sky by L.A. Weatherly
Enjoy! I need to add a few of these to my own reading list...
November 24, 2016
I thank you for the States
Yes, I've been to the States. Some of them anyway -- New Jersey, Pennsylvania, The Disctrict of Columbia (I know, I know), Georgia. That kind of thing. I posted no schedule of where I would be going; made no fuss on the internet and saw no non-publishing friends. I'm sorry about that -- the timetable, quite properly, wasn't in my control.
On the other hand, it was the most amazing and delightful of trips with the best of all companions, as well as brilliant, witty, and kind organisers.
I signed stock in bookshops in Philadelphia, Washington DC and Decatur. I had astonishing vegan food and can highly recommend the following restaurants: "Charlie was a Sinner" in Philly, "Busboys and Poets" in DC, "Herban Fix" in Atlanta.
Almost every night included an opportunity to meet with booksellers, librarians and media. They smiled, they were open to chatting about pretty much anything at all and I felt... cherished.
I took part in a panel of writers in The Little Shop of Stories in Decatur. It was packed to the rafters with fans of the other authors -- Maggie Steifvater, Rachel Cohen, David Levithan and Bill Konigsberg. I was hugely, hugely lucky to hang out with such superstars, even if it was only a way to throw their genius into relief.
But the aim of the trip, indeed the whole point of it, was to attend a double whammy of English teacher conferences taking place in Atlanta, Georgia. I loved it and was a little jealous of the Scholastic folks working in the exhibition hall. We mingled with teachers and librarians. We writers performed scenes from our novels. I watched Maggie Stiefvater give a brilliant, elegant, personal address, and signed at least 50 books for enthusiastic educators.
I could write a dozen blog-posts on all the things that happened. Or a book, maybe. But instead, I will bore you with the details next time we meet at a convention and there's nowhere for you to run...
Hope you all had a great few weeks!
On the other hand, it was the most amazing and delightful of trips with the best of all companions, as well as brilliant, witty, and kind organisers.
I signed stock in bookshops in Philadelphia, Washington DC and Decatur. I had astonishing vegan food and can highly recommend the following restaurants: "Charlie was a Sinner" in Philly, "Busboys and Poets" in DC, "Herban Fix" in Atlanta.
Almost every night included an opportunity to meet with booksellers, librarians and media. They smiled, they were open to chatting about pretty much anything at all and I felt... cherished.
I took part in a panel of writers in The Little Shop of Stories in Decatur. It was packed to the rafters with fans of the other authors -- Maggie Steifvater, Rachel Cohen, David Levithan and Bill Konigsberg. I was hugely, hugely lucky to hang out with such superstars, even if it was only a way to throw their genius into relief.
But the aim of the trip, indeed the whole point of it, was to attend a double whammy of English teacher conferences taking place in Atlanta, Georgia. I loved it and was a little jealous of the Scholastic folks working in the exhibition hall. We mingled with teachers and librarians. We writers performed scenes from our novels. I watched Maggie Stiefvater give a brilliant, elegant, personal address, and signed at least 50 books for enthusiastic educators.
I could write a dozen blog-posts on all the things that happened. Or a book, maybe. But instead, I will bore you with the details next time we meet at a convention and there's nowhere for you to run...
Hope you all had a great few weeks!
November 21, 2016
The Call has been nominated for The Leeds Book Awards
Well, this is a fabulous day! I've spent the week meeting amazing booksellers and librarians and teachers from the United States, but while my back was turned, their UK colleagues added The Call to their shortlist for The Leeds Book Awards. I'm so happy, I might even abandon my authorial dignity to dance around in a public place (Venue TBD).
Also on the list, is my friend, Liz Flanagan, author of the wonderful Eden Summer, and the great Sarah Pinborough, who wrote one of my favourite reads of last year, The Death House.
Here's the full list for the 14-16 age category:
Eden Summer by Liz Flanagan
The Trap by Alan Gibbons
Orangeboy by Patrice Lawrence
The Call by some guy
13 Minutes by Sarah Pinborough
Broken Sky by L.A. Weatherly
Enjoy! I need to add a few of these to my own reading list...
Also on the list, is my friend, Liz Flanagan, author of the wonderful Eden Summer, and the great Sarah Pinborough, who wrote one of my favourite reads of last year, The Death House.
Here's the full list for the 14-16 age category:
Eden Summer by Liz Flanagan
The Trap by Alan Gibbons
Orangeboy by Patrice Lawrence
The Call by some guy
13 Minutes by Sarah Pinborough
Broken Sky by L.A. Weatherly
Enjoy! I need to add a few of these to my own reading list...
November 5, 2016
Perth Writers Festival -- I'm going to Australia!
The delightful people at The Perth Writers Festival have invited me to be one of their guests this year. They probably did so because I'm about the only Irishman left in the world who has yet to visit Australia. They figure I need to get out and about more. And they're right! I've never come close to crossing the equator, but from 23-26 February, I'll be strutting around Perth with a big smile on my face...And after? Straight home again for young Peadar?Well, no. I'll be staying down under at least another week and plan to make visits to a few cities in the East. Sydney and Brisbane for sure. Maybe one other. I want to sign some books and do a reading or two if the chance presents itself. But nothing has been organized just yet...So, there you have it. As so many have before me, I'm off to see the wizard. It would be great to meet a few non-fictional Australians while I'm at it :)
November 3, 2016
Reading, Watching, Writing, Waiting
How much do I love you, dear internet?
Clearly not enough, for it's been quite some time since I bothered to tell you anything of my amusements. Oh, I have excuses. I have personal things going on. I have rewrites coming out my ears and painfully emerging from parts of my anatomy whose very mention would get me banned from most of the social media sites you can think of. But still, entertainment has never been lacking and I want to mention just a few bits and pieces...
READING
I haven't been able to read as much as I would like. The TBR pile has grown and many of its longest suffering members were written by people I admire or care for. It's just not right to let them suffer like that. It's not.
But I have managed to read Stieg Larsson's The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo. I enjoyed getting a glimpse into Swedish society and the character of Lisbeth is a fantastic creation. I was also lucky enough to score a copy of Dave Rudden's MG fantasy, Knights of the Borrowed Dark. That was tremendous fun and recommended if you have anybody aged over 10 in your household...
WATCHING
I came late to The Night Of, the story of a young man brought to trial for a murder he probably didn't commit, despite the mountain of evidence pointing to his guilt. My brief description makes it sound like every other courtroom drama you've ever heard of, and it is. Except... except it's brilliant. Do yourself a favour and watch it.
I'm also four episodes into Westworld and really enjoying it. It's the story of a futuristic Wild West theme park populated with uncannily human robots. Let's see if the plot and characters can keep my attention for the rest of the run.
Other than that, I'm looking forward to the new series of Black Mirror, and, now that Netflix have bought it, I'll finally get to see The Expanse.
YOU
How about you? Anything good in your eyeballs lately?
Clearly not enough, for it's been quite some time since I bothered to tell you anything of my amusements. Oh, I have excuses. I have personal things going on. I have rewrites coming out my ears and painfully emerging from parts of my anatomy whose very mention would get me banned from most of the social media sites you can think of. But still, entertainment has never been lacking and I want to mention just a few bits and pieces...
READING
I haven't been able to read as much as I would like. The TBR pile has grown and many of its longest suffering members were written by people I admire or care for. It's just not right to let them suffer like that. It's not.
But I have managed to read Stieg Larsson's The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo. I enjoyed getting a glimpse into Swedish society and the character of Lisbeth is a fantastic creation. I was also lucky enough to score a copy of Dave Rudden's MG fantasy, Knights of the Borrowed Dark. That was tremendous fun and recommended if you have anybody aged over 10 in your household...
WATCHING
I came late to The Night Of, the story of a young man brought to trial for a murder he probably didn't commit, despite the mountain of evidence pointing to his guilt. My brief description makes it sound like every other courtroom drama you've ever heard of, and it is. Except... except it's brilliant. Do yourself a favour and watch it.
I'm also four episodes into Westworld and really enjoying it. It's the story of a futuristic Wild West theme park populated with uncannily human robots. Let's see if the plot and characters can keep my attention for the rest of the run.
Other than that, I'm looking forward to the new series of Black Mirror, and, now that Netflix have bought it, I'll finally get to see The Expanse.
YOU
How about you? Anything good in your eyeballs lately?
October 17, 2016
Drive-by Deliciously Reviewy Goodness
I'm itching to do some bragging, so, let's just get it over with.
1) Lovely little review of The Call in British newspaper "i". They said, among other things that it was "a fabulous book". Hurray!
2) For the first time in my life, one of my works has over a 1000 reviews on Goodreads -- 70% are 4 or 5 stars. Although, 20 people out there gave me the 1 star treatment. So, you may be taking a bit of a risk...
3) Scholastic sent me a copy of the US Entertainment Weekly magazine that has a full-page ad for The Call in it. Wow. When this is all over, I won't be able to complain that my publishers never did anything for me.
CONVENTIONS
This weekend, I got to take part in both Octocon aaaand, DeptCon2. Both were incredible. I'll pipe in with more details on these next week, but for now, I want the organisers to know that they bask in my praise like great sharks in the ocean of awesome...
YOU
I hope everybody is well! I'll write about my current reading soon. Just trying to catch up a bit.
1) Lovely little review of The Call in British newspaper "i". They said, among other things that it was "a fabulous book". Hurray!
2) For the first time in my life, one of my works has over a 1000 reviews on Goodreads -- 70% are 4 or 5 stars. Although, 20 people out there gave me the 1 star treatment. So, you may be taking a bit of a risk...
3) Scholastic sent me a copy of the US Entertainment Weekly magazine that has a full-page ad for The Call in it. Wow. When this is all over, I won't be able to complain that my publishers never did anything for me.
CONVENTIONS
This weekend, I got to take part in both Octocon aaaand, DeptCon2. Both were incredible. I'll pipe in with more details on these next week, but for now, I want the organisers to know that they bask in my praise like great sharks in the ocean of awesome...
YOU
I hope everybody is well! I'll write about my current reading soon. Just trying to catch up a bit.
September 20, 2016
Come See Me in London!
If you're going to be near the UK's capital at the end of September, I'll be taking part in a talk in Waterstone's Piccadilly branch on 30/9/16 at 6:30pm. Tickets are £3. Here's the blurb:
"Join us for an evening of fascinating tales and fantastical worlds, as authors Peadar O’Guilin and Laure Eve discuss how traditional myths and folklore create hypnotic and engaging worlds in YA fiction. The event will be chaired by Waterstones Piccadilly favourite Katherine Webber."
You and Me in London, plus Reading and Watching and News
If you're reading this, the chances are you already know me and the last thing you want is to run into me in London. Well, if you live in the UK's capital, it's time to find an excuse to get out of it, because I will be visiting the Piccadilly branch of Waterstones on the last evening of September.
Here's the blurb:
"Join us for an evening of fascinating tales and fantastical worlds, as authors Peadar O’Guilin and Laure Eve discuss how traditional myths and folklore create hypnotic and engaging worlds in YA fiction. The event will be chaired by Waterstones Piccadilly favourite Katherine Webber."
Tickets are £3 -- that's you paying us, not the other way around!
READING
My reading has crawled almost to a halt lately, mostly for reasons I can't discuss here. But a few stories have sneaked their way into my eyeballs.
First up, is The Graces by Laure Eve, who, you may have noticed will be appearing with me at the London event above. It's a beautifully written tale of subtle witchcraft and obsession. Looking forward to the sequel.
And speaking of sequels, I've started The Obelisk Gate, N.K. Jemisin's follow-up to last year's brilliant The Fifth Season. I'm crawling through it, due to... stuff, but it's great so far.
Finally, for my future reading pleasure, I have scored an ARC of Vic James's The Gilded Cage, which has people over on Goodreads raving about it. I look forward to raving a bit myself.
WATCHING
Nope. Not a thing. Just... too... busy...
NEWS
Lots of great reviews continue to pour in about The Call. Here's a new one on the femminist website Etym. Looks good to me!
YOU?
How're you?
Here's the blurb:
"Join us for an evening of fascinating tales and fantastical worlds, as authors Peadar O’Guilin and Laure Eve discuss how traditional myths and folklore create hypnotic and engaging worlds in YA fiction. The event will be chaired by Waterstones Piccadilly favourite Katherine Webber."
Tickets are £3 -- that's you paying us, not the other way around!
READING
My reading has crawled almost to a halt lately, mostly for reasons I can't discuss here. But a few stories have sneaked their way into my eyeballs.
First up, is The Graces by Laure Eve, who, you may have noticed will be appearing with me at the London event above. It's a beautifully written tale of subtle witchcraft and obsession. Looking forward to the sequel.
And speaking of sequels, I've started The Obelisk Gate, N.K. Jemisin's follow-up to last year's brilliant The Fifth Season. I'm crawling through it, due to... stuff, but it's great so far.
Finally, for my future reading pleasure, I have scored an ARC of Vic James's The Gilded Cage, which has people over on Goodreads raving about it. I look forward to raving a bit myself.
WATCHING
Nope. Not a thing. Just... too... busy...
NEWS
Lots of great reviews continue to pour in about The Call. Here's a new one on the femminist website Etym. Looks good to me!
YOU?
How're you?
September 5, 2016
Back to Life, Back to Normality -- Reading, Watching
Well, it had to happen eventually. The launch of The Call came and went. There I was, all full of myself, trips to New York and Blog Tours and famous authors returning my tweets...
And then, it just ends. Why, this morning, I had to queue up for coffee -- me! Like a normal person. The humiliations have only continued since then, I can tell you. I'm expected to pay my own tab and nobody has washed socks in this house for days and days.
So, I guess, I'd better return to my usual blog posts.
READING
I always like collecting books by people I've met and I'm building up quite a stack of them! Probably time to play jenga with it.
First up was Jo Zebedees, engaging and swiftly-moving Inish Carraig. It's great fun and why wouldn't it be, with alien invasions and a mysterious new prison for those who get on the wrong side of our new masters? Poor John Dray! He gets a rather closer look at what's going on inside than anyone would want... You can find it here.
I've also started the BwB's very own J.R. Johansson's Cut Me Free. I'm really only at the start of it, but even here, to tell you anything of the plot would be to shower you with spoilers. But basically, a girl fleeing horrific abuse, needs to overcome her own PTSD in order to save somebody else. So far, it's very intriguing.
WATCHING
I know I saw something incredible recently, but I'm too shell-shocked by my return to normality to say what it is. What I do know, is that Narcos has returned to Netflix and I welcome it with great joy. Only two episodes in, it still makes for great TV. Let's see what happens next!
INTERVIEW
Well, I will give you one more piece of news related to The Call. In case you didn't already see it, I have an interview up today on Sci-Fi Bulletin. If you want the answer to such questions as why I wrote the book in the present tense, well, here you go!
And then, it just ends. Why, this morning, I had to queue up for coffee -- me! Like a normal person. The humiliations have only continued since then, I can tell you. I'm expected to pay my own tab and nobody has washed socks in this house for days and days.
So, I guess, I'd better return to my usual blog posts.
READING
I always like collecting books by people I've met and I'm building up quite a stack of them! Probably time to play jenga with it.
First up was Jo Zebedees, engaging and swiftly-moving Inish Carraig. It's great fun and why wouldn't it be, with alien invasions and a mysterious new prison for those who get on the wrong side of our new masters? Poor John Dray! He gets a rather closer look at what's going on inside than anyone would want... You can find it here.
I've also started the BwB's very own J.R. Johansson's Cut Me Free. I'm really only at the start of it, but even here, to tell you anything of the plot would be to shower you with spoilers. But basically, a girl fleeing horrific abuse, needs to overcome her own PTSD in order to save somebody else. So far, it's very intriguing.
WATCHING
I know I saw something incredible recently, but I'm too shell-shocked by my return to normality to say what it is. What I do know, is that Narcos has returned to Netflix and I welcome it with great joy. Only two episodes in, it still makes for great TV. Let's see what happens next!
INTERVIEW
Well, I will give you one more piece of news related to The Call. In case you didn't already see it, I have an interview up today on Sci-Fi Bulletin. If you want the answer to such questions as why I wrote the book in the present tense, well, here you go!
