Various odds and sods

Famous last words about updating more regularly, written December 6 last year and we're now in the middle of summer. Where does the time go to? Kate Thompson says it leaks through a hole in space.

Right, if any of you are interested, here's my latest update:

The Shadow Project, book 1 of a new series for HarperCollins in the U.S., will be in the shops after Christmas this year. But only, so far, in the States since it hasn't found a U.K. publisher yet and my German publisher turned it down because I mentioned Hitler. (Honest!) I've spent the last week making a little promo video for the book, which was great fun. There's already been the first hint of movie interest, which is nice; although these things move so slowly I'm not holding my breath.

Just completed The Doomsday Box (working title) which is the second Shadow Project book. My literary agent, Sophie Hicks, loves it and is taking it to my publisher in New York this week where she will discuss the future structure of the series.

Started work on The Faeman Child, a new stand-alone novel set in the Faerie Wars universe. I hit the 10,000 word mark a couple of days ago: the significance of this being that if I can make 10,000 I can usually finish the book. Which may be just as well since I've spent the advance.

Framestore have renewed their movie option on Faerie Wars and have, I believe, now decided to focus their energies exclusively on this and one other movie project, which is heartening news.

Finally, I'll be submitting my dissertation this week. Bits of it might be useful for a non-fiction book I'm ruminating on about the placebo effect. Or I could use much of it as the basis of another (spooky) project I've been considering called The Whisperers. That's if I can manage to plug the hole in space Kate Thompson was talking about.

Web site update

Spent the morning locked in technical combat with the server that hosts my Web site, but have now figured out (after several years) how to persuade it to display Herbie Brennan's Bookshelf properly at www.herbiebrennan.com without having to apply onerous hand-made changes to the html every time it needs even the tiniest amendment. The result is...

AN UPDATE OF MY WEB SITE. (Check it out at www.herbiebrennan.com)

And with that problem solved, I should be able to update it more regularly now. I think I'll go and drink some lunch now.

Bit of an Update

Got some stick from a friend the other evening about how poor I've been about updating my blog -- all too deserved, I'm afraid: it's not been one of my priorities for several months. But today, looking out the window at an Irish fog, is a good day to list a few things that have been happening, since it means I can postpone updating my Web site for another while at least.

First, Faerie Wars. The adventure that started in Henry's bedroom finished with Faerie Lord which drew kindly responses in the main from professional critics and loyal readers. But it also provoked several fans of the series to ask about the possibility of further faerie books. Since the characters wouldn't leave me alone anyway, I did prepare a synopsis for just one more. It was called The Faeman Child, set 16 years after the action of Faerie Lord, and told the story of the teenage daughter of Henry and Blue -- the faeman child of the title. I have to stress that it's not written yet and does not have a publisher, so it may disappear into limbo, but I can say that there is now the first distinct sign of publisher interest. If it comes to anything, I'll let you know.

Next, a Faerie Wars movie. An option contract has been signed by one of the major computer animation studios and a screenwriting team is at work on a screenplay. Whether this will turn into an actual movie remains to be seen, but it's a step in the right direction. One thing's certain: nothing will happen fast. The contract gives the studio rights for 18 months, renewable for a further 18, so it could be three years before we know for certain what, if anything, is going to happen.

Finally The Shadow Project. This is a teen occult fantasy spy thriller about out of body experience that I wrote as a major change of pace after Faerie Lord was finished. Both my current publishers hated it, but HarperCollins in the U.S. thought it was the business and has contracted for a series. It's due for publication in 2010.

Magnificent Music

I've known Karin Leitner, the distinguished Austrian flautist for some time now, but somehow never managed to hear her play in a live performance... until last night. I managed to get along to a recital partnered with the Irish harpist Anne Marie O'Farrell largely featuring the music of O'Carolan. It was, simply, magnificent. Some of Karin's CDs are available from Apple Itunes and www.amazon.de and she's well worth a search on YouTube.

Comments on Faerie Lord

Faerie Lord was published in the States on St Stephen's Day (U.K. early next month: Feb 2008) and I'm delighted to say I came home from a short Christmas break to find lots of emails from readers who, so far, have liked it. One of them, Iya, asked me to make a special post so people could discuss the book. Sounded like a good idea, so, Iya, this is the post you asked for. I promise I'll respond to comments as quickly as possible.

Magic

I've always had this thing that I'd agree to nearly anything so long as it was far enough in the future. Then you wake up one morning and find it's looming ominously on the horizon. I'm in that situation now.

Months ago, I managed to convince myself it would be good promotion for my book 'The Wizard's Apprentice' if I did a one-day first-steps workshop on the essentals of magical practice, something I haven't done for years. Having set the wheels in motion, I promptly forgot about it. Now it's suddenly all happening next month -- Sunday November 11 to be exact.

The venue is the Fairgreen Holistic Clinic, in Naas, County Kildare, Ireland. The cost (I think) is €80 and you can join in the mayhem by calling Pauline at 00353-(0)45-898243. And no, I won't be teaching you spells or how to fly a broomstick. Magic is a psycho-spiritual discipline, whatever Harry Potter told you.

Cheltenham

Just back from the Cheltenham Literary Festival, which was a bit of a personal disaster to tell the truth. For some reason, two of the promised school classes failed to turn up at my talk, so I was left with a tiny audience of kids who were mostly too young to follow the scheduled lecture. The week before I had a massive turn-out at Ballymun and Finglas in Ireland for the Dublin Children's Book Festival, so I expect the UK trip was God's way of telling me not to get big-headed.

Having said that, I did like Cheltenham itself. Lovely hotel and there was a Writers' Room in the Town Hall where they laid on yummy food and decent wine (both gratis) all day. That's what I call proper treatment.