Competition closed!
After 164 entries, only one person got the correct answer! The movie that inspired the
last (for now) teaser pic is... 300!
For those interested, the movie posters that inspired the pics are:
Unforgiven
Mission: Impossible
Forrest Gump
The Rocketeer
The Shawshank Redemption
Iron Man
Sucker Punch (x3)
300
These are some of my all-time favourite movies, except for Sucker Punch which I haven't
seen yet (but I love the poster designs!).
Competition Time!
There's only one more Stronger teaser pic to go in this batch... Anyone care to guess which movie as been used as the inspiration? All correct guesses will be put into a hat, and one randomly-chosen lucky guesser will win a signed copy of the limited edition short-story collection The New Heroes: Superhuman!
E-mail your guesses to me at the usual address (which can be found on the Questions page) or post on the Quantum Prophecy Series Facebook page.
Update: 2011-12-31 04:24
Lots of guesses already received, but no one's got it right yet! I'll be posting the new pic
sometime tomorrow evening (Dec 31st). If we get to the end of the competition and no one's right,
I'll choose one person at random to be the winner!
And no, I can't give you any clues, but I will tell you that there's no limit to the number of guesses you can make... I'm not saying you should submit a huge list of, say, 300 movie titles, but it wouldn't actually be against the rules if you did!
Update: 2011-12-31 16:17
Another clue: the movie was released in 2007.
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Over the next few weeks I'll be releasing a number of teaser images for Stronger, such as the one below. I've blurred it out here because it reveals a very minor spoiler for the book, but if you're not worried about that, click the image to see the non-blurred full-size version!
Just for fun, almost all of the other teaser pics have something in common... But I'm not saying what that is yet - check in regularly to see for yourself!
Last posting dates if you want to order a copy of the short-story collection
The New Heroes: Superhuman and receive it in time for Christmas:
| Ireland | 19th Dec |
| Northern Ireland | 19th Dec |
| Great Britain | 18th Dec |
| Europe | 18th Dec |
| USA / Canada | 6th Dec |
| Atlantis | 32nd Nov |
| Rest of the World | 6th Dec |
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...!).
Dora and Wulf showing particular interest in something that arrived in the mail today...
At last, it can be revealed... Shawn Martinbrough's incredible cover for Stronger!
Irish Comic News Awards 2011
Yes, it's "please vote for me" time again! I've been shortlisted for the Irish Comic News Awards
in the category of Best Mainstream-Published Irish Writer for my work on Judge Dredd over
the past year.
Now, I don't like begging for votes, but I really want to win this award, and the only way that'll happen is if lots and lots of people vote for me! All you need to do visit the Irish Comic News Website, enter your name and e-mail address in the boxes at the top of the page, then enter "Michael Carroll" in the "Best Mainstream Published Irish Writer" category. You don't have to vote in any of the other categories, but if there's something that catches your eye, go for it! (Just as long as you put my name in the correct category!)
Voting closes on Friday October 28th, so please vote as soon as you can, and tell everyone else to do the same! I'd like to pretend that it's vitally important for the future safety of the universe that I win the award, but that would be a lie. The truth is simple: I'm jealous of all those writers who keep winning awards when my books are much better than theirs!
My Octocon 2011 schedule (I expect to be around for the entire convention, but these are the panels in which I'm scheduled to appear)...
| Saturday October 15th | ||
| 11:00 | Answering Tharg the Mighty’s Call John Higgins, Michael Carroll, Richmond Clements 2000AD is one of the longest-running anthology magazines in the world. We have gathered fans and writers for the zine to talk about how it has changed them. | |
| 12:00 | Meeting Your Heroes Padraig Ó Méalóid, Peadar Ó Guilín, Michael Carroll We all have them, and some of us have been lucky enough to meet them. How did the experience go? How has it influenced our panelists' relationships with their own fans? | |
| 14:00 | Guest of Honour Panel John Higgins, Michael Carroll (Note: John's the star - I'm just there to moderate the Q&A and keep things under control!) | |
| 16:00 | Maintaining an Online Community Sarah Rees Brennan, Michael Carroll, Vicky Stonebridge, Richmond Clements In the modern world it is available to authors to communicate with their readers on a highly interactive level. This has some advantages and pitfalls. Let's talk about both. | |
| Sunday October 16th | ||
| 13:00 | How to be an "overnight" Success in the Comics industry John Higgins, Michael Carroll, Rob Curley Why there are no shortcuts to success! (Except of course when there are). | |
| 14:00 | Golden Blasters The Golden Blasters (The National Irish Science Fiction Film Awards) is a film festival dedicated to short science fiction, fantasy and horror stories. This two-hour panel is a screening of the shortlisted movies, followed by the potentially quite vicious (but held in private) judging session. | |
What, it's October already!? How on Earth did that happen?
Yes, time marches on, and then it aprils on, and then junes... And now here we are, at the start of October, and the local stores have temporarily taken down the Christmas decorations they put up last month and replaced them with their Hallowe'en decorations.
But October also brings Octocon, the National Irish
Science Fiction Convention, taking place this year in the Camden Court Hotel, Dublin 2, Ireland. I'll
be there, as will many wonderful guests, including this year's Guest of Honour
John Higgins, whom many of you will know is
the award-winning colourist on the classic graphic novels Watchmen and Batman: The Killing Joke,
as well as the creator of Razorjack, and artist on countless excellent comic-books, including
Judge Dredd... In fact, coming out just in time for Octocon is Judge Dredd Megazine #316,
featuring a Judge Dredd tale called "Unchained", drawn by John, coloured by fellow Octocon guest
Sally Hurst, and written by a very strange chap called Michael Carroll.
So if you're in Dublin on the weekend of October 15th and 16th, come along to Octocon and have the time of your life!
In other news... Work on the New Heroes / Quantum Prophecy project proceeds at the usual frantic pace. As always, I'm keeping tight-lipped about what's coming up, but I can tell you that the next few months will bring a few surprises....
There's the previously-hinted-at revelations about next year's book, Stronger. I won't be telling you what happens in the book, but I will be dropping some hints as to what it's about, if you see what I mean. And you will, soon!
Shawn Martinbrough's stunning cover for Stronger will be making an appearance Real Soon Now.
There's also something else possibly happening about which I can't reveal anything at all right now. In fact, I shoudn't have even mentioned that. Please forget that I did. Dum de dum...
At last it can be revealed...! The title for the sixth novel in the series will be Stronger.
In anticipation of some questions you might have, here's some answers...
Q. When's it coming out?
Stronger will be published in summer 2012 in the USA.
Q. Is this another prequel?
Yep. Sort of.
Q. Wait, what do you mean, "sort of"?
I'm not saying... You'll find out soon enough!
Q. Yeah, but when will we find out?
There might be a little trickle of information coming out between now and the end of the year, but
you can definitely expect something in December. Late December.
Q. Is that the final cover? It looks a bit blurry!
No that's just a dummy cover. The final image has once again been drawn by top artist
Shawn Martinbrough - you'll love it,
trust me!
Q. So, come on! What's it about? I mean, this time last year you gave us a lot more information
on The Ascension!
Sorry, it's still too soon to reveal much about the book... But I can tell you that
Stronger is quite a bit different to the others.
Q. Will you be creating another video advert for Stronger?
Maybe... But right now I don't have any plans to do that. The videos take a huge amount of time
to create, and my workload for the next year is pretty heavy. However, I have put together a little
something in the way of promotion... You'll find out what that is around the end of December!
We're back from the San Diego Comic-Con! Tremendous fun, but the con is just too big: No matter how much you see, there's always the feeling that you're missing out on something else!
If I get time, I'll write a proper report soon, but in the meantime I've restored ordering of the short-story collection The New Heroes: Superhuman: feel free to purchase as many copies as you can afford!
Aaaaand... We're off! In two days I'll be jetting off to America for this year's
San Diego Comic-Con, which will be followed
by a trip to Manhattan. All is ready, nearly. All I need to do is pack some cloths, dump a bunch
of songs onto my MP3 player, find a book suitable for reading on the flights, and about a thousand
other little things that I stupidly left to the last minute...
If you're attending the comic-con, you can catch me at the following panels:
Spotlight on John Higgins - Thursday July 21, 13:30 - 14:30, Room 4
From Watchmen to Razorjack and Beyond: Award-winning artist John Higgins talks early influences, and his journey to step out of the long shadow cast by Watchmen to create and publish his own graphic novel, the critically acclaimed Razorjack. John will be joined for a Q&A session at the end of his talk by author Michael Carroll (Quantum Prophecy novels / Judge Dredd)
Immortality - Saturday July 23, 10:00 - 11:00, Room 7AB
An obsession with "youth" - more than just botox and a crippling fear of
wrinkles - has always been part of our culture. From the search for the
fountain of youth to the representation of vampires as eternal beings,
popular fiction has toyed with this idea of "immortality" for centuries.
In this panel, authors explore the concept of "immortality" as a
cultural fascination and as it is represented in their work, with a
particular focus on paranormal, science-fiction, and fantasy novels.
Panelists:
David Goyer / Michael Cassut, writer and producer of Batman Begins, The Dark Knight, authors of Heaven's Shadow (Ace)
Jason Starr, author of The Pack (Ace)
Drew Mcgary, author of The Postmortal (Penguin)
Rachel Caine, author of the Morganville Vampires series (NAL)
Heather Brewer, author of the Vlad Todd series (Dutton Books)
Michael Carroll, author of the Quantum Prophecy series (Philomel Books), Super Human & Judge Dredd
Alma Katsu, The Taker (Gallery)
The panel will be followed by a one-hour autograph session with the panelists.
Note: Ordering of the short-story collection The New Heroes: Superhuman has been temporarily disabled while I'm in the States... But I'll be back in early August!
My super-secret spy in Manhattan (AKA my beloved sister Jan) has just sent me these cool photos of the Top Teen Picks rack in the Barnes & Noble bookstore on 5th Avenue...
(Click image for a larger version!)
Just for fun... What if the Quantum Prophecy series was originally a 1960s b-movie?
Today is June 30th, 2011 - Ascension Day! Rush to your bookstores now and pick up a copy - if you've enjoyed the other books in the series, you're gonna love The Ascension! It's a fast-paced adventure packed with thrills, danger, courageous heroes, menacing villains, breathtaking chases, daring escapes, super-powers, funny clowns, jetpacks, flying cars... Except for the clowns, I was lying about that part.
"If you're a fan of superheroes, non-stop action, or fantastic writing then you will absolutely love The Ascension."
- Whatchamacallit Reviews
(Rating: 9.5 out of 10)
"The characters are much less absolute in their morality than in their first outing, making the
narrative even more engaging. [...] One of those rare sequels that exceed the first."
- Kirkus Reviews (starred review: "For books of remarkable merit.")
Two days to go until The Ascension is published...!
There's a brief interview with me on the great Adventures in Children's Publishing blog, plus I've added a new image to the wallpaper page!
Only six days to go... One last teaser for The Ascension!
Thirteen days to the publication of The Ascension... Time for some more teasers!
An updated events-list... As always, more details will appear as we get closer to the events!
| June 18 |
SquareBoundIrish Writers' Centre, Parnell Street, Dublin 1, Ireland SquareBound is a one-day Irish Comics Creators' Convention. Guest of Honour is Gerry Hunt (In Dublin City, Blood Upon the Rose), other guests include Alfonso Zapico, Michael Carroll, Robert Curley, Liam Geraghty, Barry Keegan, Maura McHugh, Alan Nolan and Craig O'Connor.
Panel: |
|
| July 21 - 24 |
San Diego Comic-Con San Diego Convention Center, San Diego, California, U.S.A.
Panels: From Watchmen to Razorjack and Beyond: Award-winning artist John Higgins talks early influences, and his journey to step out of the long shadow cast by Watchmen to create and publish his own graphic novel, the critically acclaimed Razorjack. John will be joined for a Q&A session at the end of his talk by author Michael Carroll (Quantum Prophecy novels / Judge Dredd)
Immortality - Saturday July 23, 10:00 - 11:00, Room 7AB
An obsession with "youth" - more than just botox and a crippling fear of
wrinkles - has always been part of our culture. From the search for the
fountain of youth to the representation of vampires as eternal beings,
popular fiction has toyed with this idea of "immortality" for centuries.
In this panel, authors explore the concept of "immortality" as a
cultural fascination and as it is represented in their work, with a
particular focus on paranormal, science-fiction, and fantasy novels.
Panelists: The panel will be followed by a one-hour autograph session with the panelists. |
|
| Oct. 15-16 |
Octocon Camden Court Hotel, Dublin 2, Ireland Octocon is Ireland's longest-running SF convention (it began in 1990!). This year's Guest of Honour is top comic artist / writer John Higgins (creator of Razorjack, colourist on Watchmen and Batman: The Killing Joke, artist on Judge Dredd, World Without End and many, many others). Other guests include C.E. Murphy, Derek Gunn, John Vaughan, Maura McHugh, Nick Roche, Oisín McGann, Pádraig Ó Méalóid, Peadar Ó Guilín, R.F. Long, Richmond Clements, Sarah Rees Brennan and Vicky Stonebridge
|
|
The Ascension receives another early review! Whatchamacallit Reviews rates the book 9.5 out of 10! The review does contain some spoilers, but here's a spoiler-free extract...
"All in all readers will absolutely love The Ascension. The characters are interesting and well developed, their powers fascinating, the action non-stop, and the writing superb. This is a great read for anyone (especially preteen and teenage boys), and I can’t wait for the next in the series." |
It's seventeen days to the publication of The Ascension, so I figured it's time for a few teasers... Check the book's sample page!
The Ascension has been tagged as a "Starred Review" on Kirkus. According to
their website: "A star is assigned to books of remarkable merit, determined by the editors of Kirkus."
So there you have it! In approximately thirty-six days, The Ascension will be published and then you can find out for yourself why it's officially a "book of remarkable merit"! :)
Yay! The paperback edition of Super Human has arrived! It's scheduled for publication all across the USA on May 12th, so start getting in line now!
Bonus: the paperback contains a few sample pages from The Ascension which - while being a tiny bit spoilery - will give you a taste of what's coming up in that book (the hardcover of The Ascension will be published in the USA on June 30th).
Plus! the paperback has been printed with a special magic ink that will protect you from alien invaders! All you have to do is buy eight million copies and the magic ink will automatically generate an impenetrable force-field that will surround your home and keep those pesky aliens at bay!
Even though The Ascension is still 67 days away from publication, the first review has already arrived... And I'm very pleased - and relieved!. I won't quote the entire review here because it contains some spoilers, but here's the safe parts:
|
"The characters are much less absolute in their morality than in their first outing, making the narrative even more engaging. [...] Lance's intelligence and quick wit are as strong as ever, while the reluctant Abigail comes more into her abilities. Futuristic technology integrates nicely with the superpowers for the climax. "One of those rare sequels that exceed the first." - Kirkus Reviews |
Upcoming Events
I'll be attending the following events over the next few months... (More details to appear as soon as I have them!).
| April 15 |
FanSciCon UCD Students Centre, Belfield Campus, Dublin, Ireland. Admission free! |
|
| May 14 & 15 |
Bristol International Comic Expo Ramada City Inn & Mercure Holland House Hotel, Bristol, U.K. |
|
| July 21 - 24 |
San Diego Comic-Con San Diego Convention Center, San Diego, California, U.S.A. |
I'm often asked how big each new book in the series is compared to those that came before it, so I thought I'd share that precious information with you here...!
Now, people usually want to know how many pages are in a book, but writers don't usually think in terms of pages, because depending on the way the text is laid out (typeface, size, line-spacing, margins, and so on) the same book could fit into two hundred pages or four hundred... So instead when we consider the size of a book, we're looking at the number of words.
In the old days of typewriters, the number of words was calculated in one of two ways: by counting each word on every page (which of course takes a long time) or by counting the number of words on a typical page and multiplying that by the number of pages. That method produced results that were fairly accurate. It was important back then to know how many word were in a piece of writing, because writers were often paid by the word: more words = more money! Plus it was important because editors often requested short stories of a specific number of words: "I've got space for a story about 4,000 words - what have you got for me?"
(There's a tale - it might not be true, but it's still a good one - of a well-known science fiction writer whose short story came in way over the required word-length. He didn't want to chop up his story, so he sent it to the editor marked "6,000 words" even though it was closer to 13,000. He only got paid for the six thousand words, but he didn't care: his story was published!)
These days, our word-processors can instantly perform an accurate word-count for us. This isn't always a good thing if you're struggling through a book because you'll be watching the word-count very slowly rise and you could be tempted to pad out the words to reach your daily quota!
But I digress... Here are the word-counts for the New Heroes / Quantum Prophecy series so far...
And this is what it all looks like on a graph:
So, what does this tell us? Well, it tells us that - apart from the short-story collection - the books are getting bigger. Except for the sixth novel, of course, but that's not quite finished yet so the word-count can be expected to rise a little.
It also tells us that there will be a sixth novel! Yes, it's going to happen! The first draft has been completed and I'll soon begin work on the next draft. It does have a title, but for now that's being kept under wraps, as is the plot. But I can say that it's quite unlike any of the other books in the series...
The word-count data also tells us that by the time the sixth novel is done, I'll have reached a pretty major mile-stone. Right now, the total word-count stands at 498,530... I expect to be adding at least 1,470 words to the sixth novel, which will bring the total word-count to over half a million words! Pretty cool, eh?
The Characters page has been given a pretty radical make-over, with much bigger pics - some of them brand-new!
Created in 1976, the Eagle Awards are the comics industry’s
longest established accolades. Unlike many awards, they've voted for by members of the public rather
than industry professionals.
The nominations stage for this year's awards (voting for 2010's comics and creators) is now open: Anyone can vote in any of the categories. Simply select the name of the creator or title you feel deserves to win, or if the name isn't there, add your own by clicking "Other" and entering the nominee in the box. (Or, if you don't have a preference, select "No Answer").
The five names or titles with the most nominations in each category will then become the shortlist for the voting round which begins on March 14th.
(I, your humble writer Michael Carroll, am already on the list of nominees for "Favourite Newcomer Writer", but of course the more nominations I receive the greater the chance my name will make it to the shortlist! Not that I'm trying to sway your votes, of course...!)
Older readers might like to check out the latest issues of 2000 AD (#1715) and Judge Dredd Megazine (#306), where you'll find my first two published Judge Dredd tales! I've been a fan of Judge Dredd since his very first appearance in 1977 (yes, I'm that old!) and it's a real thrill to be writing his adventures!
Please note that even though 2000 AD started off as a comic for younger readers it has changed over the years and is now very definitely aimed at adults!
Super Human is now featured on the Penguin Teens website, alongside many other top novels for teen readers. Visit the site by clicking the link below, or visit the Penguin Teens Twitter, YouTube, Facebook or Ning sites!
