Now on YouTube: the brand-new video trailer for Super Human!


Last posting dates if you want to order a copy of The New Heroes: Superhuman receive it in time for Christmas:

Ireland19th Dec
Northern Ireland19th Dec
Great Britain18th Dec
Europe18th Dec
USA / Canada 8th Dec
Australia / New Zealand 8th Dec
Hong Kong 8th Dec
India / Philippines 8th Dec
Israel 8th Dec
Rest of the World 4th Dec
Lunar Colonies Yesterday

Please keep in mind that when I receive an order for the book I always send the buyer an e-mail asking for their personalised inscription... I generally wait three or four days for an answer before mailing the books (of course, the sooner the buyer responds the sooner the books are mailed...!).


Wexworlds Wexworlds was a tremendous success, despite the horrendous rainfall and subsequent flooding in the days leading up to the event, which unfortunately meant that my good friend (and one of the finest writers I know) Maura McHugh was unable to attend.

Überkudos to Wexworlds' curator James Bacon for his sterling work. I've known James for all of his adult life (so far) and I honestly believe that without him the universe would be a lot less fun. If you ever have the chance to attend an event James is organising, I urge you to take it!

I managed to steal some time from the busy schedules of Andrew Donkin, Eoin Colfer, Darren Shan and one of my all-time heroes, the wonderful Herbie Brennan (who turned out to be even more fascinating and likeable in person than I ever could have dreamed - a true gent who genuinely seems to have no idea how brilliant he is!) for some great chats, and caught up with PJ Holden, Oisín McGann, Sarah Rees Brennan, Ian McDonald, Robert Curley and Nick Roche, not to mention the website-less John Vaughan (who, like James Bacon, seems to have a sort of Midas touch: if John is at an event you just know it's going to be fun).

It was a pretty packed and exhausting weekend, meeting many old friends and making many new ones, but I do particularly want to send out a shout to someone who's been involved in the Irish SF fan scene for decades and is a great supporter of all the events but always seems to stay in the background... He's a good friend to so many of us, a font of perpetual good humour and a generous source of wisdom and knowledge: Mick O'Connor, stand up and take a long-overdue bow!

Put this in your calendar: Friday 26th-Sunday 28th November 2010... Wexworlds 2!


Wexworlds As mentioned before, this coming weekend the very first Wexworlds Sci-Fi and Fantasy Fiction Festival will take place in the town of Wexford, Ireland.

Unlike a standard science fiction convention, the festival does not take place in one particular venue, but all over Wexford (see the map on the website for all the locations), nor is there a standard entry fee (most of the events are free - though one or two do have an admission fee to cover cost of materials).

The guest list reads almost like a who's who of Irish SF and Fantasy: Andrew Donkin, Darren Shan, Emma J King, Eoin Colfer, Herbie Brennan, Ian McDonald, John Vaughan, Nick Roche, Oisín McGann, Paul J Holden, Robert Curley, Sarah Rees Brennan and some guy called Michael Carroll, whoever he is.

I expect to be around for most of the weekend - this is my official schedule:
Friday
18:00 - 19:00
Wexford Arts Centre
Free
Launch
Wexworlds is officially opened!
 
Saturday
13:30 - 16:00
White's Hotel
Cost: €5
Comic Page Workshop
This is a chance to draw a page, to a real script. Show your portfolio, and learn and receive pointers from the professionals.
 
18:30 - 19:30
Wexford Arts Centre
Free
Stories to Entertain You
A selection of authors give quick readings, to entertain, scare and make you laugh.
 
Sunday
11:30 - 12:30
Talbot's Hotel
Free
Understanding V for Vendetta and Watchmen
These two great comics, both recently made into movies, are worth closer examination and consideration.
 
14:00 - 14:45
The Book Centre
Free
Meet the Authors & Coffee with the Pros
Eoin Colfer, Andrew Donkin, Ian McDonald, Michael Carroll, Dave Donohue, Robert Curley.
 
15:00 - 16:00
White's Hotel
Free
Words to Pictures
Authors and Artists discuss bringing both artforms together in various formats.
 
17:00 - 19:30
Wexford Arts Centre
Free
Closing and Prize Giving
Tweet Comp, Movie Comp and Short Story Comp.


As promised yesterday, some new photos of the latest employees here at Quantum Towers...


Wulf enjoying his breakfast.
Originally Wulf had a different name supplied by his first family, but it just didn't feel right to us so after some discussion we arrived at Wulf.
His full name - for legal purposes - is Wulf Sternhammer Carroll.


Dora enjoying her breakfast: a tasty nibble on Daddy's fingers.
Dora is incredibly inquisitive, hence the name given to her by her first family. She's also a quite "attacky" cat - no ankle or finger is safe from her tiny claws and teeth. I suggested we call her "Bloodlust" but Leonia gave me that look.


Wulf prepares to settle down with some bed-time reading.


Dora gets an early start on her new job of checking the books for continuity errors.

OK, that's it... I promise that I'm not going to flood this website with lots of photos of cats!


Two new arrivals here at Quantum Towers...

 

Dora (left) and Wulf (right), about six weeks old, incredibly playful and cuddly (but with standard kittie sharp bits in all the right places). More photos to follow!

Many thanks to our cat-broker Courtney for negotiating the transaction!


Super Human - May 2010 Some news about the fourth novel...

As you can see, the final cover image has been released! Created by artist Shawn Martinbrough and designer Christian Fünfhausen, this striking image perfectly captures the menace of... a certain character from the book (you'll notice I haven't relaxed my policy on avoiding spoilers!).

In related news, the book's publication date has been moved forward from 10 June 2010 to May 13, which is now only six and a half months away...

I've also today received the first copies of the Super Human galleys - the advance uncorrected proofs that publishers send out to reviewers, bookstores and librarians... It's all finally starting to feel real!



Those of you who have been having fun with my Superhero Costume Designer (on the SHS website) and are now stuck on the hardest part of the process of creating a superhero - coming up with a good name - should check out my other website www.michaelowencarroll.com for some handy utilities: Mike's Name Generator, Mike's Superhero Name Generator and Mike's Fantasy Title Generator.

You'll also find some other fun bits and pieces!


At last it can be revealed... The fourth book in the Quantum Prophecy / New Heroes series will be called Super Human.

Now, I realise that this might be a little confusing given that the short story collection is called The New Heroes: Superhuman, but allow me to explain...

The title Super Human was chosen a few months ago by the good people at Penguin because it's concise, snappy and sums up the book rather well (those of you who've been reading this website for a long time might recall that Superhuman was one of my earliest suggested titles for the series).

But won't people get confused between this and the short story collection? Yes, that's certainly possible - but it's not a big deal. After all, the collection is limited to 1000 copies and not available in the bookstores, so most readers of the new novel won't ever encounter it. But in an attempt to avoid at least some of the confusion I've been referring to the collection as The New Heroes: Superhuman.

I've also just added a warning on the collection's ordering page to make sure that no one thinks they're buying the new novel (nevertheless, I'm taking bets on how long it'll be before someone orders a copy of the collection and is then surprised to discover that it's not the fourth novel).



I haven't updated the News in some time, so here's a quick round-up of the latest events...

  • I'll be making a number of appearances at this year's Children's Book Festival in October. Exact times and locations haven't been fully confirmed yet, but I'll be visiting libraries in Kildare, Kilkenny, Waterford and Wexford. As soon as I have the final schedule I'll let you know.
  • I'll also be appearing at this year's Octocon in Dublin, and at the very first Wexworlds in Wexford in November (alongside fellow YA authors Eoin Colfer, Darren Shan, Oisín McGann and Sarah Rees Brennan).
  • The fourth novel in the Quantum Prophecy / New Heroes series is now 100% finished and ready to go. As mentioned before, it is NOT a continuation of the first three books: instead, it's a stand-alone prequel. Within the next week I hope to announce the final title and - maybe - give you a glimpse of the cover! Trust me, you're going to like this one... I'm not saying much about the story, of course, but I will tell you that it's about 80,000 words long (Quantum Prophecy: The Reckoning is about 70,000 words). So far the advance feedback on the fourth novel has been extremely positive... Fingers crossed that it sells lots of copies!
  • Speaking of The Reckoning... In answer to a couple of queries from the web: Yes, the third novel has been published in the USA! If you can't find it in your local bookstore, they will order a copy for you if you ask them nicely (the ISBN is 978-0399247279). Alternatively you could check with your local library, or even order it on-line from Amazon.com.
  • In answer to another web query: How many characters are in the Quantum Prophecy series?
    I had to admit that I didn't know the answer, so I counted... Including all four novels and the short story collection, there are 180 different characters. A few of them are only mentioned but haven't yet made an appearance in the series, and some only have a couple of lines, and there are some very minor unnamed characters who do have lines but aren't included in the count (such as some of the people in the crowd scene near the start of The Gathering).
    Of those 180 characters, fifty-three are superhuman... That's way more than I thought! There's only thirty-six on the Characters page, and one of them isn't a superhuman, so who are the remaining eighteen? Hmm... good question! :)


  • Older readers might like to check out the latest issue of 2000 AD (#1646, dated 29 July '09)... It includes my five-page short story "Sanctuary", with art by comics legend John Cooper! I remember loving John's work before 2000 AD even existed. He's always been a superb artist but what he's done with my script is just amazing.

    (The only downside is that my name is mis-spelled in the credits box. Tch! Now I'm going to have to change my name to "Micahel Carroll".)



    Pop over to the Octocon website to see my latest interview, conducted by the ever-talented Danielle Lavigne... (Dani, you might recall, is the polylingual translator of Céard a Rinne Mé ar mo Laethanta Saoire)

    For those not in the know, Octocon is the Irish National Science Fiction Convention, which this year will take place on October 10th & 11th in the Camden Court Hotel, Camden Street, Dublin. This year's Guests of Honour are David Lally and Mike Carey. Other guests include Alan Nolan, C.E. Murphy, Derek Gunn, John Vaughan, Peadar Ó Guilín, Rob Curley and Harry Harrison - all of whom, I am very proud to say, are my friends!


    At the suggestion of my friend and fellow author Michael Scott, I have finally succumbed to the lure of Twitter... Follow my ramblings on the Home page!


    Any authors out there using Windows-based PCs might like to check out Mike's Name Generator, a pretty handy (and totally free) utility that can generate billions of unique names - never again will you find yourself trawling through the phone book or scouring the credits on the closest CD in order to come up with names for your characters!

    Visit my other website to find out more about the program and download the latest version!


    Just added a brand new Wallpaper image...


    My extraordinary talented friend Danielle Lavigne has very kindly translated my short story "What I Did on My Holidays" into Irish... Could this be the first ever Irish-language superhero story? I certainly hope so!

    So settle ye down by the turf fire, wrap up in a nice thick arran jumper, pour yourself a steaming mug of shamrock cordial, and enjoy Céard a Rinne Mé ar mo Laethanta Saoire, begorrah.


    One new character and one older one updated...


    YA fiction expert and SuperLibrarian Karen Yingling has just posted a short interview with yours truly on her very informative and entertaining blog!


    Observant viewers will have noticed that I've recently made some updates to the Characters page: new layout, comparitive properties for each character, and... some new characters!


    I still have a few more changes to make, so keep watching!


    Another few tweaks to the SHS Costume Designer... More costume bits, more colours, plus it now remembers the saved costumes between sessions!

    (Don't forget to recommend the SHS site to everyone you know!)


    I've just given the Costume Designer a bit of an overhaul... I've removed the "Metal" options - because I realised that I was almost never using them myself, many of them didn't look that good, and the extra graphics take up a lot of space - and I've added in some new items.

    If you're thinking "Costume Designer? What's that?" then you need to click on the SHS button at the top-right of this page - you'll be taken to the SHSuppliers website where you'll find all sorts of fun goodies!

    Or you could just click here.


    Another recently-discovered accolade for Quantum Prophecy: The Awakening - in 2008 the book was selected for the prestigious "Books for the Teen Age" reading list.

    The Books for the Teen Age list, sponsored by the New York Public Library, selects the best of the previous year's publishing for teenagers, ages 12 to 18. All the titles chosen have been read, reviewed, and recommended by young adult librarians.


    Just discovered that Quantum Prophecy: The Awakening is one of the nominees for the 2008/2009 Isinglass Teen Read Award, as selected by readers in New Hampshire!

    In 2001 the Isinglass Teen Read book award began in Barrington, New Hampshire as a collaboration between the public library and the middle school library. The award became state-wide in 2005. Each year 7th and 8th grade students are asked to nominate their favourite books. The nominated books are read by the Award's committee members, who select the top twenty books. Voting takes place in April and is open to all students in grades 7 and 8, with the winner announced in May.

    More news on this as soon as I receive it!


    Oooh, look what I just found on the web! Quantum Prophecy: The Gathering is now available as a downloadable audiobook from Audible.com!

    It's an unabridged version, with a running time of 8 hours and 14 minutes. The narrator is Bryan Kennedy, the same guy who narrated the audiobook version of The Awakening.

    The audiobook was released on March 31st 2009, and costs US$10.46 (or only US$7.49 for members of the AudibleListener Gold scheme).


    As you'll very likely have spotted by now, I've given the website a face-lift. There's still a couple of tiny things to update here and there, but I'll get around to them soon.


    Just for fun, here are some statistics on The New Heroes: Superhuman...

    160 Number of pages
    52,353 Number of words (total)
    47,392     Number of words (fiction)
    4,437     Number of words (articles)
    524     Number of words (misc)
    327  Average words per page
    5337 Total unique words
    2939 Most common word ("the")
    4.27 chars Average word length
    15 Longest word ("invulnerability")
     
    73.62%  Inscription required
    Whenever an order arrives I e-mail the buyer and ask them whether they would like a personal inscription. So far, only two people have turned down the offer. The remainder of the 26.38% are buyers who haven't replied (I give everyone three or four days to get back to me, then I mail the books regardless).
    2.99 days  Average shipping delay
    That's the delay between the order arriving and the book going into the mail, mostly caused by weekends and by the wait for buyers to let me know whether they want an inscription.

    54.47%   Confirmation of delivery
    Those copies I know have safely reached their destination. This includes copies sold at conventions (I know those books have arrived safely!)
     
     Sales per country:
    Australia 8.94%
    Canada 2.13%
    Republic of Ireland 25.11%
    Netherlands 0.43%
    New Zealand 0.43%
    Singapore 0.85%
    United Arab Emirates 0.43%
    United Kingdom 41.28%
    United States of America 20.43%

    Now look what I've started... Not one but three Young Adult superhero novels coming out from Penguin (USA) in the coming months! The third one you might recognise, but the others - Hottie by Jonathan Bernstein and Dull Boy by Sarah Cross - are brand new debut novels from two upcoming writers... And it looks like they're both going to be tremendous fun!


    So, we're back from Scotland and thoroughly exhausted (there are currently no flights from Dublin to Inverness so we had to drive to Belfast and fly from there!), but we had an utterly fantastic time at Hi-Ex- best convention ever!

    Highlights of the con: well, there are far too many to list them all, but I really have to mention the Watchmen panel! Myself, Al Ewing, Richmond Clements and Ben Clarke discussing that most wonderous of graphic novels... Then there was the charity auction through which the convention raised a considerable sum of money for Children 1st, the tireless guests and friendly exhibitors, and of course the wonderful attendees (particularly Colin, Sean and Murray!)

    Check out the Hi-Ex website for the first batch of photos from the event, and start saving your pennies for next year's convention!


    Off to Scotland tomorrow for Hi-Ex, so ordering of The New Heroes: Superhuman has been disabled until early next week!

    If you happen to be at Hi-Ex (and you really should be!), look me up. In between various panels and such I'll probably be spending most of my time in the dealers' room at the FutureQuake table, where I'll have some copies of The New Heroes: Superhuman for sale - and a whole pile of postcards to give away!

    The FutureQuake boffins will also be giving away some free copies of their comic Zarjaz, which features a strip written by yours truly, so get there early and nab a copy!


    I knew there was something I was supposed to do! A long time ago I promised to put a sample chapter of the second book on-line as soon as the book was launched in the USA. Well, it's been months since that happened and now, finally, I've remembered!

    I promise it won't take so long to put up the sample chapter of Book 3!


    I've just discovered the cover and publishing details for the upcoming German edition of the first New Heroes book (sometimes it pays to Google your own name!). According to the publishers (Random House Germany) it'll be published on September 1st 2009 under the title Die Zeit der Superhelden, which translates as The Time of the Superheroes.

    I'm not exactly nuts about the cover, but sadly I don't have any say in this sort of thing!


    Leonia and I will be once again attending Hi-Ex in Inverness, on February 14th and 15th. The guest list is a veritable who's-who of the UK comics scene: Alan Grant, John Higgins, Mick Mcmahon, Frank Quitely, Lee Carter, Gary Erskine, Leigh Gallagher, Ferg Handley, Jon Haward, Colin MacNeil, Leah Moore, Graeme Neil Reid, John Reppion, David Taylor, Asia Alfasi, Al Ewing, Chi-tan, Al Davison... With more to be added!

    Last year's Hi-Ex was a tremendous amount of fun, so please come along - it's going to be great!


    Not a lot of news that I can report in recent weeks, except that last night I discovered - purely by chance - that Quantum Prophecy: The Awakening was a finalist in the 2008 Golden Duck Awards, in the Hal Clement Award for Young Adult category.

    I'm rather chuffed with this because Hal Clement is one of my favourite writers - his novel Mission of Gravity is one of the best books I've ever read.