On Writing.ie today, there’s an article from myself and E. R. Murray where we talk about writing Urban Fantasy set in Dublin and discuss writing techniques and ideas – Writing Fantastical Worlds
Just to remind everyone that Octocon is on this weekend. If you’re coming along be sure to say hello. If you aren’t, why not? The fabulous guests of honour are Emma Newman and Maura McHugh.
It also means I might be a bit scarce. Then again, hotel wifi permitting, I might not.
Before that I have to get my act together as I’m visiting a school on Friday morning, a Library next week and then I have the Hodges Figgis YA panel. It’s all go here!
I’m very excited to be part of the YA Panel in Hodges Figgis next week on Thursday 15th October at 6pm, along with Claire Hennessy, Louise O’Neill and Dave Rudden.
Situated on Dawson Street, Hodges Figgis bookshop is a part of Dublin history, founded in 1768, mentioned in Ulysses and one of the oldest in Ireland.
So this is in addition to Octocon this weekend, a school and a library visit.
Dublin Castle sits in the heart of old Dublin, on the highest point of land in the area, a ridge between the Liffey and the Poddle (which now flows underground). A sheltered harbour on the Poddle, Dubh Linn was the original Black Pool from which Dublin gets its name. It was probably the site of an ancient ringfort which guarded the harbour, and from the 930s a Viking settlement stood there. The Norman castle was founded in 1204 and the gates were once decorated with the decapitated heads of rebels and invaders. This gate is on Palace Street, the shortest in Dublin with only two addresses, one of which is the Sick and Indigent Roomkeepers Society, founded in 1790. Next door to it is the lovely Chez Max.
Shielmartin Hill, Howth in A Hollow in the Hills by Ruth Frances Long
Shielmartin hill is part of Howth Head, overlooking Dublin and features in A Hollow in the Hills. Local tradition says that the cairn on the summit was the burial place of Crimthann. Most of the summit appears to be made up of the cairn, with other cairns built on top of it.
One of my many magical places around Dublin featuring in A Crack in Everything and A Hollow in the Hills.
I’m going to post some more of them over the next while. Stay tuned.
In the meantime check out the Goodreads giveaway running for another 8 days.
To celebrate the release of A Hollow in the Hills (all right, it escaped a bit early but I think they have it firmly under control now) here is my playlist –
There are songs for different characters, and various events. There are songs that are for overall mood as well.
Something is stirring beneath Dubh Linn.
When an ancient and forbidden power is unleashed, Izzy, who is still coming to terms with her newfound powers, must prevent a war from engulfing Dublin and the fae realm of Dubh Linn. But by refusing to sacrifice Jinx – fae warrior and her ‘not-really-ex’ – Izzy sets in motion a chain of events which will see them hunted across the city and into the hills where she’ll face the greatest challenge of all. In the deepest and darkest Hollow, an angel of death is waiting …and the price he asks for his help might be too high …
I’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.
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… 😉 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!
Sorry for the lack of blogging. I have been busy busy busy. (Warning: this post brought to you today by the words “wonderful” and “fantastic”!)
Wonderful authors galore – Kate Johnson, Alison May, Helen J Rolfe, Talli Roland & Imogen Howson.
The trip to London for the RNA Conference was absolutely wonderful.
I missed the Tube strike and all my transport went very smoothly (I didn’t actually need the vast amount of alternate routes I planned at all). The Conference itself was, as always, wonderful. In fact you can get a flavour of it at the Romaniacs website where they have a lovely videos and will be posting interviews with various authors (including yours truly which I’ll link to when it goes up).
My talk “Finding the Fantastic in Your Fiction” seemed to go down very well although I was desperately nervous beforehand. But people came (at least 35 of them because all my handouts went), and asked questions (Yay!) and even came up to me afterwards to say how much they enjoyed it. Even people I didn’t know!
My highlight was probably Julie Cohen’s excellent (as ever) Re-writing workshop. With All the Post It notes in the universe. Including giant ones and a stack for everyone in the audience. And the panel discussion on Saturday – “The Vision for Writers of Passion and Drama” – Katie Fforde, Eileen Ramsay, Jane Johnstone and Daniel Hahn talked about the challenges facing authors today. It was wildly entertaining and very interesting.
Was that a future Game of Thrones spoiler from Jane? We’ll never know…
Chilling by the canal was also wonderful, a way to escape the heat and Kate Johnson and I discussed Buffy for rather a long time…
And the Gala dinner was just fab! All very glam. It was held in the beautiful Octogon Library which was a bit of a highlight for librarian-me who came over all fangirl. For a building. Yes…
I always end up having a little bit of a downer when I have to leave. I meet so many good friends at the conferences and its a place for writers to be writers. I miss that. But roll on next year in Lancaster (8-10th July). Can’t wait.
Back in the real world, final edits went back in for A Hollow in the Hills, the sequel to A Crack in Everything, which comes out on the 7th September.
SO BOOK LAUNCH NEWS!!!!
We will be having a book launch in the Gutter Bookshop at 6.30pm on Wednesday the 9th September. All welcome. Bring your friends. Bring ALL OF THEM! I will be sourcing cake.
Yesterday was mostly spent working on Book 3 The Darkness at the End, because I had a massive surge of post-conference creativity which saw me write 16 pages in longhand and type up 6000 words. Still more to catch up on. I love it when writing does that.
Sinead Gleeson interviews Judy Blume
Last night I went to the Pavilion Theatre to see Judy Blume in conversation with Sinead Gleeson. It was a wonderful evening and the warmth and love of the audience was only matched by the warmth and love which radiated from the woman herself. Many of my YA writing friends were there as a gang, our bookclub being just a little hyper beforehand. And during the Q & A. And after… But she has been such an inspiration to so many people and it really showed. It was fantastic to find out she is as lovely as we always wanted her to be.
I had an action packed day yesterday, reading in my local Dubray Bookshop in Bray in the morning and in the Rathmines branch in the afternoon. Groups from the local schools came along and were of course brilliant and lovely. As were all the staff. I think we had a ball. I did, anyway! I read from A Crack in Everything. We talked about writing, books, movies, and even my horror of Wuthering Heights being billed as a romance.
Below are some pictures to give you an idea of the day.
(many thanks to Avril Cannon for the Bray Reading Photo and to Martin Shannon for the Rathmines one)
Dubray, BrayReading in Dubray, BrayReading in Dubray, Rathmines
So lots of new things coming up this year including the sequel to A Crack in Everything. More news when I have it.
On the 12th January I’m part of Paranormal Road Trips at From the Shadows telling you about my Top 5 spooky places in Dublin and their stories. Thanks so much to E. J. Stevens for inviting me to do this. I loved every minute. And as Dublin is old, it has a load of spooky stories associated with it. I only scratched the surface. You can RSVP on Goodreads if you’d like to get a reminder.
The trip to London for the RNA Conference was absolutely wonderful.
And the Gala dinner was just fab! All very glam. It was held in the beautiful Octogon Library which was a bit of a highlight for librarian-me who came over all fangirl. For a building. Yes…
