Tag Archives: Guestblogging

Giveaway for #IrishFictionFortnight & More Booklaunch news

IFFI’m very excited to be part of Irish Fiction Fortnight on the BleachHouseLibrary website. This year I wrote about a book that had a huge influence on what I write today. It’s called The Hounds of the Morrigan by Pat O’Shea and you can read all about it here.ย 

There’s also a giveaway for a signed copy of A Crack in Everything.

Another exciting bit of news is that Kate Johnson has very kindly agreed to launch A Hollow in the Hills in the Gutter Bookshop, Dublin on the 9th September at 6.30pm. Come one, come all. Kate is a fantastic writer and I’m particularly addicted to her books The Untied Kingdom and Impossible Things. Or maybe its her heroes… ๐Ÿ˜‰ Especially the next one, from the Ghost Book which doesn’t have a name yet but is AWESOME! And is partly set in Dublin.

So another reason, as if you needed one, to come to the book launch.

Lastly, I’m going to be going dark in the next couple of days as I’m working on book 3 and doing some travelling, and hopefully some research as well!

The (Not) May Day post

So right, well, due to matters beyond my control… well actually due to responsibilities which I can’t ignore and the massive headache that followed it… I didn’t manage to blog yesterday, which is annoying because I totally meant to.

Because *drumroll* *taa-dah*

yesterday was May Day.

 

That would have been so much more effective yesterday when it was “today is May Day”, you see? But never mind.

 

The reason May Day is important (not just because it’s what I frequently shout. Ok, when I’m in trouble in France anyway) is that The Treachery of Beautiful Things is in part based on the legends and folklore surrounding May Day. It is the first day of summer here in Ireland (notable this year for the pheNOMinal ammount of rain we got). It’s Bealtine, one of the quarter days when the veils between worlds become thin enough to let things slip through. It’s a time of magic.

Alright I never actually got around to writing the blog post, but luckily for me The History Girls had a fantastic one written by Mary Hoffman, so I am totally linking to that. ๐Ÿ˜€ It even has a lovely picture of the May Tree, aka the hawthorn.

The hawthorn we planted in the garden is doing well by the way. It has little buds. So pretty! Next year we’ll have pictures of it, I promise. At the moment… it’s a stick with some little green buds on it, so not that interesting.

Today (NOT May Day) I’m over at the Australian blog Treasured Tales for Young Adults celebrating its Blogoversary, and talking about Jenny from The Treachery of Beautiful Things. I love Jenny. She’s a complicated girl, who learns and grows over the course of the book, growing into herself as a confident and self-assured young woman by the end of the story. I like characters who develop over the course of a book, rather than being the same the whole way through and I think Jenny shows this. Anyway, see for yourself what I had to say.

And finally, here is my May Day song (late) which is one of the most important songs from my Treachery Playlist – Rabbit Heart (Raise it up) by Florence + the Machine. (I can’t embed it, so follow the link to YouTube).

 

Hurray for news! Bigger Hurray for Competitions!!!

This is another quick blog update but with some super news.

I’m going to be a guest at TitanCon in Belfast in September. I’ll be reading on the evening of the 21st September in McHugh’s and I’ll be at the con all day on Saturday 22nd. Anyone there, please come and say hi!

Also up today is a guest post I wrote for Tangled Up in Words and their Why I Write segment.ย  It almost sounds sane. Well, sane-ish. Maybe. But most importantly the Tangled Authors are have a massive giveaway which is open for about 3 more days and includes, among many other shiny & spectacular things, one of those elusive ARCs of The Treachery of Beautiful Things. Go and enter! While you’re there maybe leave a comment for me, pretty please?

Post Pcon Post

Well, I it’s a week after PCon and I’m still recovering! My con report is up on Writing.ie with pictures by Kate Sheehy. Thanks to Elizabeth Murray for inviting us to play on her blog. ๐Ÿ™‚ Make sure to visit and read all about it. (zombie fuelled mayhem, one way trips to Mars – what more do you want?)

In the meantime I have my edits back so may be dropping off the face of the earth (a little bit more than usual). So excited about the various changes. It’s getting so much closer!

I will be back soon, I promise.

Out in the wild…

Thanks to Wyvernfriend for the tip off we went into Dublin today and found…

*drumroll*

a copy of The Scroll Thief in Waterstones!

Soooooooo exciting as it’s the first time I’ve seen it in the wild! Great was the squeeing (from me and from the family). We talked to the staff, and signed the book. And jumped up and down some more.

In other news, I’m guestblogging today at the Mad Genius Club on Myths – Old and New. Please stop by and make me look popular!!!

And just a mini reminder… Soul Fire comes out in print on Tuesday. Yay!