News Round-up!
First up: I'm delighted to announce that I'm a winner in the coveted Irish Comic News Awards! These annual awards have a number of categories covering all angles of comic-book creation, and I was chosen by the public vote as "Best Irish Writer Published Outside Ireland" - which is quite an honour given the calibre of the competition!
In the same awards I was also inducted into The Irish Comic News Hall of Fame, which is an equally great honour (and not one I'm sure I deserve!). My fellow writer - the wonderfully talented Maura McHugh - wrote some very nice things about me for The Irish Comic News Hall of Fame Ceremony!
Work proceeds nicely on the next novel... I haven't yet determined exactly when it'll be published, or how (more on that later), but it's still on schedule for release in 2015. The current working title is The New Heroes: Crossfire, though I might just simplify that to Crossfire... I haven't decided yet!
I'm not giving away any of the plot, but I can tell you that it's set about one year after the events of the third book (Absolute Power / The Reckoning) and it continues the story of Colin Wagner, Renata Soliz and Danny Cooper. Plus, it starts tying up some of the loose ends from the Super Human series.
The overall plan at the moment is that Crossfire will be the first of a new trilogy, but that really depends on how well it's received! I've worked out a way to wrap up everything in one final book if that's necessary.
The most important thing about the publication of Crossfire is that it will, hopefully, bring about an end to the countless e-mails and letters I've received since 2007 asking "When are you going to continue the story?" I do love receiving e-mails about the books but... believe me, that day can't come soon enough!
Now, what did I mean by "how" in the section above? Well, I'm currently exploring my options regarding the publication of Crossfire. One possibility is to release Crossfire as an e-book first, to test the waters so to speak. If it's successful enough in that format, I could then move on to a physical book (I love e-books but you just can't beat holding a physical copy in your hands!). Physical books are a lot more expensive to produce - chiefly because of the cost of printing and shipping - so I need to be sure that the market is there first.
To that end, I've just released the New Heroes novella "Flesh and Blood" as a Kindle e-book!
"Flesh and Blood" was previously only available in the Superhuman short story collection. It's longer than a short story: at just over 20,000 words it's actually about twice as long as "The Footsoldiers"...
Over a decade ago all the world's superhumans disappeared. At the climax of a major battle the heroes and villains alike apparently vanished... Or so the world has been led to believe. This is the story of one of those superhumans. Jonathan Earl Vernall... Also known as the notorious supervillain The Shark.
Buy "Flesh and Blood" on Amazon:
USA -
UK -
India -
Germany -
France -
Spain -
Italy
Netherlands -
Japan -
Brazil -
Canada -
Mexico -
Australia
Here's my schedule for Shamrokon, the 36th annual European Science Fiction Convention, taking place this coming weekend in Dublin, Ireland...
| Friday, August 22 | ||
| Time | Room | Panel |
| 17:00 - 18:00 | B. Lansdowne | Rough Guide to 2000AD Panel: Michael Carroll, Janet O'Sullivan, James Brophy |
| 18:00 - 19:00 | A. Pembroke | Opening Ceremony Panel: Brian Nisbet, Michael Carroll, Jim Fitzpatrick, Gareth Kavanagh, Seanan McGuire, Andrzej Sapkowski, James Shields, Ylva Spångberg |
| Saturday, August 23 | ||
| Time | Room | Panel |
| 10:00 - 11:00 | D. Ulster | YA Focus: YA Before The Boom Panel: Michael Carroll, Ruth Frances Long, C.E. Murphy |
| 12:00 - 14:00 | A. Pembroke | Guest of Honour Interview - Michael Carroll Panel: Michael Carroll, John Vaughan |
| Sunday, August 24 | ||
| Time | Room | Panel |
| 10:00 - 11:30 | A. Pembroke | Guest of Honour Signing Session Panel: Seanan McGuire, Andrzej Sapkowski, Michael Carroll, Ylva Spångberg, Jim Fitzpatrick, Janet O'Sullivan |
| 12:00 - 13:00 | C. Munster | Women of 2000AD Panel: Michael Carroll, Maura McHugh, Janet O'Sullivan |
| 14:00 - 16:00 | B. Lansdowne | Golden Blasters Panel: John Vaughan, Michael Carroll, Maura McHugh, James Bacon, James Brophy, Dave Lally, C.E. Murphy |
| 18:00 - 19:00 | A. Pembroke | Closing Ceremony Panel: Brian Nisbet, Michael Carroll, Carolina Gomez Lagerlöf, Gareth Kavanagh, Seanan McGuire, Andrzej Sapkowski, Ylva Spångberg, John Vaughan, James Shields |
This coming weekend I'll be appearing at Shamrokon, the 36th annual European Science Fiction Convention, taking place in Dublin, Ireland (my home town!), where I'll be a Guest of Honour alongside such luminaries as Jim Fitzpatrick, Seanan McGuire, Andrzej Sapkowski and Ylva Spångberg.
It promises to be a fantastic event, so come along and join in the fun!
All righty, folks... Here's my official schedule for this year's
San Diego Comic-Con! (As with any convention,
the schedule is subject to change: check the convention website and publications for up-to-date
info!)
| Thursday, 24th July | ||
| 12:00 - 13:00 | Booth 2806 | Signing: 2000AD |
| 14:00 - 15:00 | Room 29A | Panel: The 2000AD Zarjaz Hour Top artists Jock (The Losers, Judge Dredd), Chris Burnham (X-Men, Batman) and Henry Flint (Judge Dredd, Shakara) and writer Michael Carroll (Judge Dredd, Jennifer Blood) discuss the past, present and future of the Galaxy's Greatest Comic and its flagship character Judge Dredd. Hosted by 2000AD's always-entertaining PR-droid Michael Molcher. |
| Friday, 25th July | ||
| 10:00 - 11:00 | Room 32AB | Panel: Vengeance & Villains Vengeance: punishment inflicted in retaliation for an injury or offense. Villain: a character in a story who does bad things. Come hear your favorite authors talk about the dubious bad guys they write about and the characters that teach them a lesson. Moderated by Michael Carroll (The Super Human Series), and featuring Rachel Caine (Prince of Shadows), Marie Lu (The Young Elites), Arwen Elys Dayton (Seeker), Ann Aguirre (Mortal Danger), Michael Grant (Messenger of Fear), Kiersten White (In The Shadows), and Allen Zadoff (The Unknown Assassin). |
| 11:30 - 12:30 | Area AA09 | Signing: Vengeance & Villains |
| 13:00 - 14:00 | Booth 2806 | Signing: 2000AD |
| Saturday, 26th July | ||
| 13:00 - 14:00 | Booth 2806 | Signing: 2000AD |
| Sunday, 27th July | ||
| 13:00 - 14:00 | Booth 2806 | Signing: 2000AD |
Upcoming events:
Judge Dredd signing
June 25th 2014, 6pm
Big Bang Comics, Dundrum, Dublin 14, Ireland.
Top artist PJ Holden and I will be signing our new graphic novel Judge Dredd: Day of Chaos - Fallout.
Arcadecon
July 10th - 13th
Ballsbridge Hotel, Dublin 4, Ireland.
I've been invited as a Special Guest at this event alongside Ruth Redmond, Pendleton Ward,
Joseph Roche, Missyeru and the great Robert Picardo!
San Diego Comic-Con
July 23rd - 27th
San Diego, California, USA.
The biggest comics and media event in the USA... More details on my schedule at the con coming
soon.
European Science Fiction Convention
August 22nd - 24th
DoubleTree by Hilton Dublin, Burlington Road, Dublin 2, Ireland.
I'll be a Guest of Honour, along with Jim Fitzpatrick, Seanan McGuire, Andrzej Sapkowski, Ylva Spångberg!
D.I.C.E. - Dublin International Comic Expo
September 27th & 28th
Pembroke Square, Dundrum Town Centre, Dublin 14, Ireland
Guests include Alison Sampson, Darrin O'Toole, Declan Shalvey, Ellie Pyle, Emma Viecelli, John McCrea,
Kieron Gillen, Mike Molcher, Nick Roche, PJ Holden, Rebekah Isaacs, Si Spurrier, Stephen Mooney
& Will Sliney!
Exclusive to this website... A brand-new short story!
Those of you who have read Hunter will know that the book's hero, Lance, possesses a particular set of skills that he employs to get through life. The new story, "Declassified" takes a look at some of those skills in action!
Note: "Declassified" contains a number of very large images and as such could take longer than usual to appear on your browser! For best results, view the story full-screen! (Use the F11 key if you're viewing it through Firefox or Chrome. I'm sure that there's a similar function on other browsers!)
After much deliberation, the winners of the Hunter competition have been decided! I was impressed with most of the entries, but even though there were only three prizes, I just couldn't choose between my four favourites, so in the end I decided that there should be an extra prize!
Well done to all the winners: each of you has won signed copies of Hunter and The New Heroes: Superhuman!
By Navjot Garcha - this one really grabbed
my attention! The young hero sits pensively
in the shadow of Stronger... Is Brawn protecting him, or threatening him?
By Warren Duffey - Warren
sent in a total of eight photos, most of them great, but I liked this one
the most: it looks like
the masked hero (or villain?) is holding the copy of The Ascension hostage!
By Diljot Garcha - proof that sometimes the
simplest ideas are the best... The reader immerses
himself in his favourite series and daydreams of becoming a superhero!
By Kyle Schetzel - isn't this awesome?
Kyle uses his telekinetic powers to draw the
books toward him... Or maybe he's flinging them away? Great stuff!
Today, Hunter is published in the USA! Buy your copy now! Buy several copies - all of your friends will want one! And if you don't like your friends, then buy up all the copies just to make sure that they can't get one!
Also: don't forget to participate in the Hunter Ask-Me-Anything session tonight! To join in, just post your questions on Twitter with the hashtag #HunterAMA. The session begins at 3pm West Coast / 6pm East Coast / 11pm in Ireland and the UK, and will last for about an hour.
Also also: The competition to win signed copies of Hunter is still going...! We've received lots of entries already, and some of them are great. But some are rubbish so you're still in with a chance!
Also also also: The fifth and final part of the massive Hunter Q&A session is now on-line. Some of today's questions come from one of my favourite writers, the awesomely gifted Maura McHugh! And don't forget to check out the previous parts: Part 1, Part 2, Part 3 and Part 4!
The fourth part of the Hunter Q&A session is now on-line! (And don't forget to check out part 1, part 2 and part 3!)
The first review of Hunter is in... And it's a good one!
Booklist: "Appealing to all sorts of readers... As always, Carroll delivers a super story."
The third part of the Hunter Q&A session is now on-line! Today's questions are all courtesy of top comics artist John Higgins! (Don't forget to check out part 1 and part 2!)
The second part of the Hunter Q&A session is now on-line! (Don't forget to check out part 1!)
With Hunter now only days away from publication, it's time for some very important announcements...!
HUNTER AMA
On May 1st, I'll be participating in an "Ask-Me-Anything" session on Twitter! Any questions you have about Hunter, or the other books in the series, or about me in general, or anything else that's tickling your curiousity, just join us on Twitter by using the hastag #HunterAMA and I promise I will do my absolute best to answer your question*!
The session kicks off at 3pm West Coast / 6pm East Coast / 11pm in Ireland and the UK, and will last about an hour.
*Of course, if your questions would lead to major spoilers there's a very good chance that my answer will be "I'm not saying!" but it's worth asking anyway!
MASSIVE Q&A SESSION!
Because the Hunter AMA is likely to be frenetic, and because Twitter only allows very short answers, I've recently compiled lots of readers' questions (and my answers - which in some cases are extremely lengthy!) into a huge document with the idea of putting it on-line in time for the launch of Hunter. Turns out that the document is way too big for one page, so I've split it up into handy chunks...
To make everything even more special, I've even drafted in questions from a few well-known creators!
You can read the first batch of questions right here, and I'll be posting a new batch each day for the rest of this week!
COMPETITION TIME!
Want to win a signed copy of Hunter plus a signed copy of the rare, limited-edition New Heroes short story collection? Then dig out your camera, grab one of your Quantum Prophecy / New Heroes books off the shelf, and click here!
I'm very happy to announce that I've been invited to be a Guest of Honour at this year's European Science Fiction Convention, which will take place in Hilton Hotel, Dublin, Ireland from 22-24 August 2014
The European Science Fiction Convention - or "Eurocon" for short - is an annual science fiction and fantasy convention that take place in a different European city each year. It attracts hundreds of attendees from all over the world, and promises to be the largest science fiction convention ever held in this emerald isle!
I'm one of five Guests of Honour for this year's event. The others are authors Seanan Maguire and Andrzej Sapkowski, translator Yvla Spangberg and artist Jim Fitzpatrick. There will also be dozens of other guests and speakers participating in the convention, including George R.R. Martin, author of the mega-selling Game of Thrones series.
Membership for the three-day event costs €35 for those over 21, and junior membership costs a mere €10! Check out the convention's website for more details!
Here's a little something to keep you busy in over the next few weeks while you wait for Hunter to be published... 2048 - The Quantum Prophecy Edition!
To play 2048, use your keyboard's Left, Right, Up and Down keys to slide the tiles around. If two tiles match, they merge to form the next tile up: Two Titan tiles become one Energy tile, then one new tile appears. And so on! There are eleven different tiles... Can you solve the puzzle to find the elusive last tile?
On May 5th, 2014, Lawgiver - a special one-day event - will be held in Birmingham, UK, to celebrate thirty-seven years of Judge Dredd, the iconic Lawman of the Future!
As regular readers will know, I'm one of the writers of Judge Dredd for the weekly 2000AD comic and the monthly Judge Dredd Megazine, and I'm honoured to be a guest at this event!
Other guests include Dredd's co-creator John Wagner, legendary Dredd writer Alan Grant, and top artists Peter Doherty and Nick Percival. Not only that, but Lawgiver will also feature a special screening of the award-winning Judge Dredd fan-film Judge Minty (which I co-wrote!), and in attendance will be the fan-film's director Steven Sterlacchini, digital artist Steve Green, and its star Edmun Dehn!
There'll also be role-playing games plus, for older attendees, a screening of the acclaimed 2012 movie Dredd starring Karl Urban, Olivia Thirlby and Lena Headey!
Attendance for Lawgiver is a mere £20.00 per person, with free admission for under 16s (if accompanied by an adult)!
More news on Lawgiver as and when it become available!
(Note: all going well, I hope to have a few copies of Hunter with me... No promises, though: it depends on whether the books arrive in time!)
Now on YouTube: the brand-new video trailer for
Hunter!
Just a quick thought... If you don't think you can wait another four agonising months for Hunter to be published, you could sate your appetite a little by buying my recent e-book, Judge Dredd Year One: The Cold Light of Day... It's a fast-paced action-packed science fiction adventure focussing on Judge Dredd's first year as a lawman in Mega-City One! (Plus, while it's not a YA book, it is fairly YA-friendly - suitable for readers over the age of about, say, twelve - anyone who can cope with the Quantum Prophecy series should be able to read this!)
Here's the official blurb:
Mega-City One, 2080. It is Joe Dredd's first year as a full-eagle Judge. Though he was created from the genes of Eustace Fargo, the 'Father of Justice', Dredd is not long graduated from the Academy, and has yet to establish himself as the metropolis’s toughest, greatest Judge. His reputation will be moulded in the years ahead, but right now he’s a young lawman, fresh on the streets.
A savage killing spree results in the deaths of two highly-regarded Judges, and many consider Dredd ro be responsible: a decision he made five years earlier - while he was still a cadet - has come back to haunt him.
With the Justice Department overwhelmed and the city at a standstill thanks to a chaotic and brutal cross-city motorbike race, Dredd must bring the killer to justice and clear his name...