SATA
ENTRY TYPE:
WORK TITLE: Hell Breaks Loose
WORK NOTES:
PSEUDONYM(S):
BIRTHDATE:
WEBSITE: https://www.skulduggerypleasant.com/
CITY:
STATE:
COUNTRY: Ireland
NATIONALITY: Irish
LAST VOLUME: SATA 387
RESEARCHER NOTES:
PERSONAL
Born October 23, 1974, in Dublin, Ireland; son of a farmer and an English professor.
EDUCATION:Attended Senior College Ballyfermot (now Ballyfermot College of Further Education), 1994.
ADDRESS
CAREER
Writer and screenwriter. Worked on family farm in Lusk, Ireland, for ten years; taught karate for ten years.
AVOCATIONS:Kenpo karate.
AWARDS:Red House Children’s Book Award, 2008, and Irish Book of the Decade designation, 2010, both for Skulduggery Pleasant; Irish Book Awards Children’s Book of the Year selection, 2009, for Playing with Fire, 2010, for Mortal Coil, and 2013, for Last Stand of the Dead Men.
WRITINGS
Author of the novelette The End of the World and numerous comic book series for Marvel. Also author of a blog.
Skulduggery Pleasant was optioned for film by Warner Bros. Pictures.
SIDELIGHTS
An Irish farmer turned screenwriter turned novelist, Derek Landy is the author of Mortal Coil and Kingdom of the Wicked, two among the novels in his bestselling “Skulduggery Pleasant” series of supernatural mystery novels. Featuring a fire-throwing, wisecracking, skeletal investigator, Landy’s “Skulduggery Pleasant” stories have has drawn comparisons to Eoin Colfer’s “Artemis Fowl” novels and J.K. Rowling’s “Harry Potter” series. The author won a host of honors for his efforts, including three Irish Book Awards Children’s Book of the Year designations.
Landy was born in Lusk, Ireland, in 1974. The son of an English professor, he developed an early interest in literature, devouring “Hardy Boys” mysteries, horror novels by Stephen King and Dean Koontz, and comics. Although Landy later studied animation at Ballyfermot Senior College, he left after just one year. Returning home to work on his father’s farm, Landy devoted his days to tending the fields and his nights to screenwriting. “I must have created havoc around me because I didn’t pay attention to anything I was doing,” he told Bookseller interviewer Caroline Horn. “I would spend eight hours picking cauliflowers and then sit down and write everything that I’d been planning in my head. I remembered everything word for word.”
Landy enjoyed modest success as a screenwriter, having two films produced by the Irish Film Board: Dead Bodies, a suspense thriller, and Boy Eats Girl, a zombie film. When the idea for Skulduggery Pleasant came to him, however, he realized that a screenplay would not suffice. “There was just too much to capture in a script, so I found myself in the unfortunate position of having to write a book, which was not in the plan,” Landy remarked in a Publishers Weekly interview with Sue Corbett. Despite such initial misgivings, he found the experience of writing a novel worthwhile. He told Corbett: “There’s a freedom to writing a book, as opposed to writing a script. … When you’ve written a script, there’s a lot of … intervention, from the directors and even the financiers, people who don’t necessarily know anything about how to tell a story. So book writing is really freeing.”
Skulduggery Pleasant centers on Stephanie Edgley, a plucky twelve year old who inherits a mansion from her uncle Gordon, a famous novelist. When Stephanie is attacked at the estate, the enigmatic Skulduggery Pleasant comes to her rescue. Stephanie soon joins forces with Skulduggery to combat Nefarian Serpine, an evil sorcerer who is determined to gain possession of the legendary Sceptre of the Ancients, an object that will allow him to rule the world.
Landy “gives his wonderfully tough, sassy youngster a real workout,” a Kirkus Reviews critic observed, and a Publishers Weekly reviewer commented of Skulduggery Pleasant that “the repartee between the two leads recalls [noted twentieth-century actors Katherine] Hepburn and [Spencer] Tracy in its ongoing, affectionate contest of verbal one-upmanship.” “Deadly hand-to-hand combat, nasty villains, magical derring-do, and traitorous allies will keep readers turning the pages,” predicted School Library Journal contributor Eva Mitnick, and Claire E. Gross stated in Horn Book that “the flowing action sequences, detailed mythology, and frequent twists will keep readers engaged.”
In Playing with Fire thirteen-year-old Stephanie—now called Valkyrie—helps Skulduggery prevent the evil Baron Vengeous from reanimating the Grotesquery and thereby signal the return of malevolent gods known as the Faceless Ones. Beth L. Meister, reviewing the book in School Library Journal, called Playing with Fire a “humorous” as well as “dark and often-violent novel,” adding that “fans of the first book will particularly enjoy the new schemes and evil creatures found here.” In Kirkus Reviews a writer declared that those who like “their heroes laconic and their action nonstop are in for a wild ride,” and Kay Weisman suggested in Booklist that both series fans and “fantasy buffs pining for the now-vanquished Voldemort will enjoy this tale of good versus evil.”
In The Faceless Ones, Skulduggery and Valkyrie investigate the gruesome deaths of four Teleporters, individuals with the power to transport themselves to any location on Earth as well as open portals to parallel dimensions. Unfortunately, leaders of the Sanctuary—an organization that regulates the use of magic—do not take their concerns seriously, and the duo find themselves battling the Diablerie, a group of criminals who hope to use the last remaining Teleporter to free the Faceless Ones. Landy fills “his caper with bloody mayhem, often-hilarious dialogue and an array of distinctive mages and magical creatures,” wrote a Kirkus Reviews critic, while in Books for Keeps Robert Dunbar cited The Faceless Ones for its darker tone.
The skeletal detective finds himself trapped by the Faceless Ones in Dark Days, and here Skulduggery’s predicament forces Valkyrie to mount a daring rescue effort. In School Librarian Karen King praised the fourth series installment for its “black humour” as well as the many “twists and turns” in the narrative. In Mortal Coil, Valkyrie wrestles with the consequences of a momentous discovery: She is destined to become Darquesse, a sorceress who will bring about the destruction of the world. “The persistent grimness of everyday life and the decay and mistrust of the magical world are leavened by Landy’s dry and ironic wit,” Ruth Taylor commented in his review of the novel in Books for Keeps.
Skulduggery and Valkyrie race to prevent the Necromancers from killing half the Earth’s population in Death Bringer, Landy’s sixth “Skulduggery Pleasant” novel. In Kingdom of the Wicked a strain of magic infects mortals who are unable to control their newfound powers, while Valkyrie struggles to control her deadly alter-ego, Darquesse. Last Stand of Dead Men finds the Irish Sanctuary preparing to go to war with other sanctuaries around the world, creating a dangerous imbalance of power that Skulduggery and Valkyrie hope to correct.
Landy continues his “Skulduggery Pleasant” series with The Dying of the Light, which finds the detective embroiled in an epic confrontation with his protégé and partner, who has completed her transformation to Darquesse. The Dying of the Light, Landy told London Independent contributor Barry Egan, captures “what the series has been about all along. Essentially: a hero who realizes halfway through the story that she is destined to become the villain. Everyone is compromised, everyone has another side to them, and a happy ending is not guaranteed. War, death and jokes, basically.”
Despite the subject matter of his wildly successful series, Landy remains skeptical when it comes to the paranormal. “I would love to believe in the supernatural, … but despite my best efforts I remain frustratingly logical,” he commented on his home page. “Maybe this is why I love writing about the things I write about—maybe this is my way of living in a world where anything can happen.”
Landy launched his new “Demon Road” trilogy in 2016 with the book Demon Road. “The idea of a roadtrip pretty much dictated where it was going to be set. I tried setting it in Ireland, but you can’t really have a roadtrip here. In America, you can drive for weeks without seeing anyone. In Ireland, every five minutes you’d be passing through some small town somewhere, …” commented Landy in an interview on the My Best Friends are Books website. Amber has had a string of bad luck. She has an incurable migraine, has been getting into trouble at school, and she was attacked. To make matters worse, her parents are planning to kill her and she recently found out that she is a demon. Scheming with her aunt who promises to save her, Amber makes a deal with the Shining Demon. The catch is that though this will save Amber, if she fails to fulfill her end of the bargain the Shining Demon will take her soul. Along with her friends, Amber takes to the Demon Road in search of a solution. Nikki Heath, writing in School Library Journal, wrote, “I loved this! It’s a gory but completely absorbing adventure, which will completely entertain you all the way through.” The third book in the “Demon Road” trilogy is American Monsters. Since the first book it has been made clear that Amber’s parents not only want to kill her, but they also want to eat her. Along with her companion Milo, the duo trudge along the Demon Road in search of absolution with the Shining Demon. “There is an extremely satisfying and fitting conclusion to the trilogy,” wrote Heath again in School Library Journal. Speaking in an interview on the Paper Fury website, Landy mused, “As a horror fan, I’ve thought about this kind of thing a LOT. I mean, who hasn’t estimated how long they’d survive a zombie apocalypse? Because Demon Road is a love letter to horror, and because it’s about horror, I reckon I’d survive for a fairly long time before being killed off in a suitably heroic fashion. Or possibly when I’m on the toilet. Y’know, whatever.”
[OPEN NEW]
Despite indicating he might end the “Skulduggery Pleasant” series, Landy has only picked up steam. By the time he wrote Hell Breaks Loose, there were fifteen books in the series plus a few other related possibilities for readers to buy. Hell Breaks Loose is described as a prequel standalone story within the world of “Skulduggery Pleasant.” It is set hundreds of years before the rest of the series and is designed to explain how the sides first started fighting. The characters of Skulduggery, Ghastly, Shudder, Ravel, Saracen, Dexter, and Hopeless are featured. Alison A. Maxwell-Cox, writing in School Librarian, suggested that only fans of the series would particularly enjoy it, but she predicted, “Fans of battles will be very content!”
Landy started writing comic books for Marvel in 2018, but Bad Magic is his first graphic novel. Along with providing a visual component for the “Skulduggery Pleasant” series, it is also designed to be a standalone novel that will appeal to people who might be interested in the series but do not know where to start. Skulduggery and Valkyrie arrive in the small town of Termoncara, where people are haunted by their past and struggle with their secrets. The two detectives have to track down a creature that is making the town miserable. P. J. Holden and Matt Soffe provided the illustrations. Writing in The Bookseller, Katie Fraser thought the novel would “undoubtedly tap into the pool of Skulduggery readers” and possibly reach a new audience as well.
[CLOSE NEW]
BIOCRIT
PERIODICALS
Booklist, May 1, 2007, Kay Weisman, review of Skulduggery Pleasant, p. 48; June 1, 2008, Kay Weisman, review of Playing with Fire, p. 82.
Books for Keeps, July, 2008, Geoff Fox, review of Playing with Fire; July, 2009, Robert Dunbar, review of The Faceless Ones; July, 2011, Ruth Taylor, review of Mortal Coil; May, 2013, Margaret Pemberton, review of The Maleficent Seven.
Bookseller, January 27, 2023, Katie Fraser, review of Bad Magic, pp. 14+.
Guardian (London, England), April 7, 2007, Philip Ardagh, review of Skulduggery Pleasant, p. 20; February 14, 2014, author interview.
Horn Book, July-August, 2007, Claire E. Gross, review of Skulduggery Pleasant, p. 298.
Independent (London, England), December 14, 2008, Leo Taylor, review of Playing with Fire; August 25, 2014, Barry Egan, profile of Landy.
Irish Independent (Dublin, Ireland), September 9, 2012, Sarah Webb, review of Kingdom of the Wicked.
Kirkus Reviews, March 15, 2007, review of Skulduggery Pleasant; April 1, 2008, review of Playing with Fire.
Observer (London, England), April 8, 2007, review of Skulduggery Pleasant, p. 23.
Publishers Weekly, February 5, 2007, review of Skulduggery Pleasant, p. 59; February 15, 2007, Sue Corbett, interview with Landy.
School Librarian, winter, 2010, Karen King, review of Dark Days, p. 230; spring, 2011, Andy Sawyer, review of Mortal Coil, p. 52; spring, 2016, Nikki Heath, review of Demon Road, p. 57; spring, 2017, Nikki Heath, review of American Monsters, p. 55; spring, 2023, Alison A. Maxwell-Cox, review of Hell Breaks Loose, p. 64.
School Library Journal, June, 2007, Eva Mitnick, review of Skulduggery Pleasant, p. 150; July 1, 2008, Beth L. Meister, review of Playing with Fire, p. 103; October, 2009, Karen Hoth, review of The Faceless Ones, p. 129; May, 2018, Darla Salva Cruz, review of Skulduggery Pleasant, p. 86.
ONLINE
Books for Keeps, https://booksforkeeps.co.uk (March 27, 2024), Damian Kelleher, author interview.
Brett Michael Orr website, https://brettmichaelorr.wordpress.com/ (September 28, 2015), Brett Michael Orr, author interview.
Christchurch City Council website, https://my.christchurchcitylibraries.com/ (May 10, 2015), author interview.
Cracking the Cover, https://www.crackingthecover.com/ (April 23, 2018), author interview; (June 8, 2022), author interview.
Derek Landy website, http://www.skulduggerypleasant.co.uk (June 17, 2022).
Den of Geek, https://www.denofgeek.com/ (March 31, 2016), Louisa Mellor, author interview.
Guardian (London, England), https://www.theguardian.com/ (February 14, 2014), author interview.
Irish Examiner, https://www.irishexaminer.com/ (March 25, 2021), Caroline Delaney, author interview.
Irish Sun, https://www.thesun.ie/ (April 8, 2022), Nicola Bardon, author interview.
Laura Talks Books, https://lauratalksbooks.wordpress.com/ (November 2, 2014), author interview.
My Best Friends Are Books, https://bestfriendsarebooks.com/ (October 9, 2015), author interview.
My Book Corner, http://www.mybookcorner.co.uk/ (June 8, 2022), author interview.
Nerd Daily, https://thenerddaily.com/ (April 1, 2021), Elise Dumpleton, author interview.
Paper Fury, https://paperfury.com/ (September 22, 2015), author interview.
Skulduggery Pleasant website, https://www.skulduggerypleasant.co.uk (June 8, 2022).*
Toppsta, https://toppsta.com/ (April 29, 2020), author interview.
United by Pop, https://www.unitedbypop.com (November 3, 2023), author interview.
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Derek Landy
Ireland (b.1974)
Derek Landy (born October 1974) is an Irish author and screenwriter, famous for the Skulduggery Pleasant series of children's books.
Derek has written two screenplays that have been made into films -- the IFTA award winning Dead Bodies and the IFTA nominated Boy Eats Girl starring Samantha Mumba. Landy himself was nominated for an IFTA for Best Script.
Landy later moved onto writing the Skulduggery Pleasant novels, starting with Skulduggery Pleasant, published by Harper Collins which according to The Sunday Times in 2006 paid 1 million euro for the publishing rights.
He attended Drogheda Grammar School during his childhood years and also has a black belt in kenpo karate.
Genres: Children's Fiction, Young Adult Fantasy, Science Fiction
New and upcoming books
March 2024
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A Mind Full of Murder
(Skulduggery Pleasant, book 16)
Series
Skulduggery Pleasant
0. Hell Breaks Loose (2023)
1. Skulduggery Pleasant (2007)
aka Scepter of the Ancients
2. Playing with Fire (2008)
3. The Faceless Ones (2009)
4. Dark Days (2010)
5. Mortal Coil (2010)
5.5. Apocalypse Kings (2021)
6. Death Bringer (2011)
6.5. The End of the World (2012)
7. Kingdom of the Wicked (2012)
7.5. Tanith Low in the Maleficent Seven (2013)
8. Last Stand of Dead Men (2013)
8.5. Armageddon Outta Here (2014)
9. The Dying of the Light (2014)
10. Resurrection (2017)
11. Midnight (2018)
12. Bedlam (2019)
13. Seasons of War (2020)
14. Dead or Alive (2021)
The Skulduggery Pleasant Grimoire (2021)
15. Until the End (2022)
16. A Mind Full of Murder (2024)
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Demon Road
1. Demon Road (2015)
2. Desolation (2016)
3. American Monsters (2016)
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Collections
Haunted (2011) (with others)
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Graphic Novels
Sorry, we're not listing graphic novels by this author
Novellas and Short Stories
The Hero of Drumree (2014)
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Series contributed to
Doctor Who 50th Anniversary E-Shorts
10. The Mystery of the Haunted Cottage (2013)
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Doctor Who
12 Doctors 12 Stories (2014) (with others)
Derek Landy lives near Dublin. Before writing his children's story about a sharply-dressed skeleton detective, he wrote the screenplays for a zombie movie and a murderous horror film. "I think my career-guidance teacher is spinning in her grave," he says, "or she would be if she were dead."
Derek Landy is far too modest to talk about any awards or accolades his books may have won. He will not, for instance, mention the fact that his first book, Skulduggery Pleasant, won the Red House Children’s Book Award, or that his second, Playing With Fire, won an Irish Book Award for Children’s Book of the Year, or that his third, The Faceless Ones, is his mother’s personal favourite.
He lives in Ireland with a variety of cats, a German Shepherd, and two geriatric Staffordshire Bull Terriers who keep peeing on his kitchen floor because they think it’s funny.
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From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Derek Landy
Landy in Edinburgh, August 2011
Landy in Edinburgh, August 2011
Born 23 October 1974 (age 49)
Lusk, County Dublin, Ireland
Nationality Irish
Genre Children's fantasy
Notable works Skulduggery Pleasant and Demon Road series
Notable awards Red House Children's Book Award
2008 Skulduggery Pleasant
Derek Landy (born 23 October 1974) is an Irish author and screenwriter, best known for the Skulduggery Pleasant and Demon Road book series. Since 2018, he has also written numerous comic book series at Marvel Comics.
Career
Landy has written two screenplays that have been made into films, the IFTA award-winning Dead Bodies and the IFTA-nominated Boy Eats Girl starring Samantha Mumba. Landy himself was nominated for an IFTA for Best Script.[citation needed]
Frustrated with the collaborative process of filmmaking, Landy moved on to writing the Skulduggery Pleasant series, starting with the novel of the same name.[1] The novel was published by HarperCollins, who paid £1.8 million for the publishing rights,[2] growing to surmise a nine-book series, a six-book sequel series, a spin-off, and a prequel.
In 2007, he signed a deal with Warner Bros. worth an estimated US$1.1 million for the rights to adapt his Skulduggery Pleasant series, which he intended to adapt himself.[3] However, his script was constantly rewritten and Landy, unhappy with the results, bought back the rights. He sold the rights to another company which could not make it, then worked with another company that "petered out". As of 2020, he was working on an adaptation with an undisclosed film making company.[4]
Landy is a fan of Joss Whedon's works, notably Buffy the Vampire Slayer, as well as Philip Pullman's His Dark Materials series.[5] He is also a fan of Gilmore Girls and Doctor Who.
Landy wrote a short story based on the Tenth Doctor from Doctor Who as part of a short story collection celebrating the show's 50th anniversary. The story was published by Puffin in 2013, titled "The Mystery of the Haunted Cottage". Landy was consequentially hired to write an episode for the second series of the Doctor Who spinoff Class, only for the series to be cancelled before the episode he wrote could be produced.[6]
Personal life
Landy attended Drogheda Grammar School during his childhood years, and later studied animation at Ballyfermot College.[7] He also has a black belt in kenpo karate.[3] Prior to his contract with HarperCollins, he worked on his parents' vegetable farm.[1] Since 2016, he has been dating Laura Jordan, a fellow writer from Sittingbourne, Kent, with the couple living in Rush, Dublin.
Reception
In a review of his first book, Skulduggery Pleasant, Sarah Webb of the Irish Independent wrote that it "is taut, full of zippy dialogue and fantastical visuals".[2]
Awards
In 2008, Landy won the Red House Children's Book Award.[8] Playing with Fire, Mortal Coil and Last Stand of Dead Men each won the senior Irish Children's Book Award, in 2009, 2010 and 2013.[9] In addition in 2010 Skulduggery Pleasant (Sceptre of the Ancients) was voted as Irish book of the decade.[10]
Bibliography
Skulduggery Pleasant series
First series (Phase 1)
Skulduggery Pleasant (April 2007); US title Sceptre of the Ancients for distinction from the series name
Playing With Fire (April 2008)
The Faceless Ones (April 2009)
Dark Days (April 2010)
Mortal Coil (September 2010)
Death Bringer (September 2011)
Kingdom of the Wicked (August 2012)
Last Stand of Dead Men (August 2013)
The Dying of the Light (August 2014)
Second series (Phase 2)
Resurrection (June 2017)
Midnight (June 2018)
Bedlam (May 2019)
Seasons of War (April 2020)
Dead or Alive (April 2021)
Until the End (April 2022)
From the World of Skulduggery Pleasant
Tanith Low in... The Maleficent Seven (March 2013)
Hell Breaks Loose (March 2023)
The Demon Road Trilogy
The Demon Road Trilogy: Demon Road (August 2015) (also titled The Demon Road Trilogy: Hell and Highway)
The Demon Road Trilogy: Desolation (March 2016)
The Demon Road Trilogy: American Monsters (August 2016) (also titled The Demon Road Trilogy: Infernal Finale)
Marvel Comics
Stories
Marvel Comics #1000: "Deadpool Locked" (August 2019)
Comic series
The Black Order: The Warmasters Of Thanos (November 2018–April 2019)
The Falcon & the Winter Soldier: Cut Off One Head (February 2020–January 2021), tie-in
Captain America/Iron Man: The Armor & The Shield (December 2021–May 2022)
All-Out Avengers (September 2022–January 2023)
Avengers: Beyond (March 2023–present)
Miscellaneous
Doctor Who: "The Mystery of the Haunted Cottage" (2013), short story
End Game: An Interview with Derek Landy
Author: Damian Kelleher
Is this the final curtain for Skulduggery Pleasant? Damian Kelleher meets Derek Landy to find out more
Everyone’s favourite 400-year-old skeleton gumshoe Skulduggery Pleasant is back and I’m meeting author Derek Landy over Zoom to discuss the final book in the second series. Except the gremlins have landed and our Zoom link won’t play ball. So we revert to plan B – the good old telephone – to talk about Until The End. Derek is talking to me from his home just outside Dublin, surrounded by fields and meadows which he says ‘help me to write’. I ask him if he found it any different writing during the lockdown.
‘Anyone who chooses to become a writer, they’re willingly entering into a life of essential solitude,’ he explains. ‘So this is something that we have chosen. Then suddenly to be in a lockdown, you’re like, ‘Well this is just my average day!’ It hasn’t really affected me the way it’s affected other people. For me it’s just an excuse to not go out, whereas in the past I had to explain myself.’
As with all his Skulduggery Pleasant books, Derek says Until The End was six months in the writing.
‘I started this late summer 2021 when Ireland was still in a pretty stringent lockdown. It generally takes six months to write a book. I have a slow start and then we get to the halfway point and you’re cresting a hill, then you just roll down to the other side, gradually picking up speed. It always starts off nice and steady, slow and casual, and then by the halfway point it’s frantic and obsessive and that’s when all the work gets done, just when the deadlines are screaming at me.’
There’s been much speculation among his fans on social media that Until The End will be a final showdown for the skeletal gumshoe and his redoubtable sidekick Valkyrie – the clue is in the title right?
‘When I started the series I only thought it was going to be nine books long,’ Derek admits. ‘I was writing towards that until I got to book six or seven and realised actually it will go on. So I got to book nine and I put that to one side and called it phase one and then phase two started. If you had asked me a few years ago will I stop at a particular point I would have said ‘absolutely’ because I had no intention of continuing on in this world without Skulduggery and Valkyrie. But now that I have written more and Skulduggery’s universe expanded and the characters have evolved – I am no longer so dogmatic. So now I’m a lot more open to the idea of continuing.’
One of the reasons why Skulduggery Pleasant has been such a huge hit with its readers is that the books break all kinds of boundaries. Landy knows only too well that this is what makes them so appealing for his audience, but he also realises that this is what makes writing the books so much fun for him. But it’s never easy to bid farewell to a much-loved series is it?
‘I have to be aware that sometimes a story is more impactful if it has a definite end,’ says Derek. ‘I have to weigh that up with the vibrancy that Skulduggery gives me and the opportunity to write in whatever genre I want. The glorious thing about these books is that they have allowed me to write horror, fantasy, adventure, comedy, crime, mystery – there is no genre that I cannot incorporate into the Skulduggery books. I don’t know what I’m going to do when I’m no longer writing about Skulduggery and Valkyrie.’
As with all Skulduggery Pleasant books, there’s action and pace and witty dialogue, but there are also political, social and religious themes running through this book. As the series has evolved, inevitably Landy has had to grow the Skulduggery universe to embrace all kinds of concepts. ‘I’ve still got to write for the 9-year-old, the 10-year-old. So nothing I write can be inappropriate for those readers,’ explains Derek. ’And yet the evolution of the Skulduggery universe needs to be more complicated and complex in order to keep everyone happy.’
Is it a delicate balancing act, I ask, trying to write for new younger readers without alienating your core audience?
‘I’ve had a few mishaps over the years, and in the first drafts of these books there will always be a sequence where my editor comes back and reminds me that 10-year-olds will be reading these books! I will still colour outside the margins when I’m writing but I’ve got to know what I can do, and my readership. The interesting thing about writing for so long is that I now know what I have to take out before I send it. There’s a lot less to edit these days. Just through the experience of working with editors, I now know what is right for these books. I’m a lot more efficient.’
There’s something else that crops up in Until The End and that’s the strong sense of family; we have revelations about both Skulduggery and Valkyrie that will surprise the fans. Throughout this book, there’s a recurrent theme of the power and security of the family, the sense that no matter what happens and whatever you do, your family will always be there to forgive – and to love.
‘I think the family thing started when my nieces were born 12 years ago. I don’t have kids myself and up until then I’d been an island, I’d been on my own, happy and content and then suddenly I meet these two little newborn babies and I loved them. At the time I felt, ‘I don’t know them, I don’t know if I’d like them when they are older, I don’t know who they are as people, but I love them, and I would do anything for them. I have unconditional love.
‘Because of that I gave Valkyrie a little sister because I wanted to explore that feeling. Her sister was never in the plan when I plotted the first nine books. But it’s because of my nieces, the books have veered away from the absolute darkness they were heading towards. If I didn’t have nieces and now nephews too, the books would have just got colder and darker; they would be completely different.’
Now, in this golden age of film and TV, it still seems odd that Skulduggery Pleasant hasn’t yet made it to the big screen. The book was originally optioned by Warner Bros, but that fell through because the screenplay was what Derek calls ‘unworkable’. Then came a deal with Sony that also foundered.
‘I’ve been working on the film script with a new company for the past two or three years and it’s now the best version that it has ever been. If I could go back in time and rewrite the first books, with everything I’ve learned as a writer, I would change the original books to be like the script. In terms of storytelling the script has a more cohesive story.
The film has come so close in the past and then we’ve veered away. I’m asked about this on Twitter every week. All I can say is ‘we’re working on it.’ No matter how close we are, I still say that. Until we get the green light it means nothing. I’d say we have another week or two of work to do on the script, and then I’ll be happy with it, my producers will be happy and then we can begin the next stage of the process.’
What next for Derek Landy, I wonder? Are the rumours of an adult novel true?
‘I was planning to take three years off to write horror and crime for adults, but after talking with my publisher we’ve compromised on one year away and in that year I’ll write …’
But that information, dear readers, is embargoed! Suffice it to say, that it won’t be much of a year off for Derek …
Damian Kelleher is a writer and journalist specialising in children’s books.
Skulduggery Pleasant: Until The End by Derek Landy is published by HarperCollins Children’s Books, 978-0008386351, £14.99 hbk.
Derek Landy On Bad Magic, The First Graphic Novel In The Skulduggery Pleasant Universe
Derek Landy is here with the first graphic novel in the universe, Bad Magic
By Tacye Last updated Nov 3, 2023
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Many people know and love Derek Landy’s Skulduggery Pleasant books. But there are so many books in the universe that, for readers who are unfamiliar with the series, it feels impossible to get started without feeling overwhelmed. Luckily, here’s your chance now: Derek Landy is here with the first graphic novel in the universe, Bad Magic, and it serves as a splendid introduction to the world. And with that many bestselling books + some Marvel experience under his belt, you know Derek Landy knows how to tell his stories right. We are incredibly honoured to have him here today to chat about why he decided to tell this story in graphic novel form:
When did you first have the idea of creating a graphic novel in the Skulduggery Pleasant universe?
I’ve had this need to expand the Skulduggery stories into a graphic novel format since practically the beginning — the only problem was that I didn’t have a clue how to go about it. I love comics, but I’d never written one, and just when I was thinking it would never happen I started writing for Marvel, which renewed my enthusiasm for the idea. Suddenly I knew what I was doing! More or less.
Do you expect the target audience for Bad Magic to be different from your usual audience?
I expect it to be ever-so-slightly broader. I reckon a lot of the Skulduggery readers will be open to reading the graphic novel, but I’m hoping this will also appeal to those folks out there who’ve never picked up one of my books. It’s definitely intended to work for both sets of readers.
While this is a standalone, with that many books in the universe, how did you decide what info readers would need to understand what’s going on?
That was the tricky part. Originally, the story was going to be pretty intertwined with the book series, but then it shifted to, essentially, a monster movie where innocent people are being killed in this small Irish town. Once that change occurred, I realised we don’t need a crash course in the world or the lore or the rules of the world. It’s largely told from the point of view of an ordinary teenager, so we get to encounter the horror and the monsters as he does, and then we get to meet Skulduggery Pleasant and Valkyrie Cain when they arrive to, hopefully, save the day.
For those who are new to your work, is the story in Bad Magic any different from your usual fiction? And why did you choose to tell this particular story in graphic novel form?
Every so often I get to tell a Skulduggery Pleasant story that isn’t from Valkyrie’s point of view — which allows the readers to, almost, experience it all for the first time. Bad Magic is one of the purest examples of this approach, and so I allowed myself to strip it all back to its bare essentials: monsters are killing teenagers in a quiet, conservative little town. The good guys arrive. Things are not quite what they seem. Chaos ensues.
What was the most difficult part in telling this story in graphic novel form?
Giving up the level of control I usually exert over all things Skulduggery…! With the novels, I’m in charge, and it’s one hundred percent my vision. With Bad Magic, I’m suddenly working as part of a team. PJ interprets my storytelling through HIS storytelling. His storytelling is then amplified by the colours and the flow of the story is guided by the letters.
Please share with us the process of working with PJ Holden, Matt Soffe, Rob Jones and Pye Parr.
It’s been great! The hardest part is giving up total control of the story: the easiest part is giving up total control of the story! Suddenly I’m part of a team where I send off the script, I get the rough thumbnails, I give the occasional note, and then I get the inked artwork! PJ drew this digitally so if there were any little changes to make he could go back and adjust if necessary (although I tried not to ask him to do that too often…!)
Then Matt’s colours were added to the mix which gives the artwork such depth and atmosphere, and Rob’s letters come in to direct the eye in each panel. All overseen by the wonderful Pye Parr!
How is the experience different from when you write comics for Marvel?
With Marvel, I’m very much the novice, and I’m trying to learn as much as possible and not bug my editors with stupid questions. But because Bad Magic was, essentially, the first graphic novel my publisher has worked on, I’ve had to take all those lessons I’ve learned and pass them on. It’s been a very weird journey to go from novice to expert, depending on who I’m talking to…
What’s next for the graphic novel series? Would it develop as an independent series or would you bring in more characters and elements from the Skulduggery universe?
I’d like the graphic novels to be their own thing, though obviously existing within the book series. If I get my way, readers who love comics will be able to just read the graphic novels if that’s what they’re into, and they won’t feel like they’re missing out. But certain familiar themes will start to pop up in those panels and, hopefully, some familiar faces…
Landy, Derek
Hell Breaks Loose
The Skulduggery Pleasant Series HarperCollins Children's Books, 2023, pp307, [pounds sterling]14.99
9780008585730
Time Travel. Adventure. Battles
This is a prequel to the 15-book Skulduggery Pleasant series. It takes place 300 years before the start of the series and explains how the opposing sides in the battles for life and death began. A gate to Hell has opened up, and our heroes have been sent back in time to seal it. For fans of time travel, there are references to the 'butterfly wing' problem, when Skulduggery potentially changes the course of history. This is best enjoyed by fans of the series, as there are so many characters whose adventures in the future are frequently referred to. Fans of battles will be very content!
Copyright: COPYRIGHT 2023 The School Library Association
http://www.sla.org.uk/school-librarian.php
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Maxwell-Cox, Alison A. "Landy, Derek Hell Breaks Loose." School Librarian, vol. 71, no. 3, autumn 2023, p. 64. Gale General OneFile, link.gale.com/apps/doc/A766964546/ITOF?u=schlager&sid=bookmark-ITOF&xid=782d952d. Accessed 20 Feb. 2024.
Irish author Derek Landy is expanding his bestselling YA dark fantasy series Skulduggery Pleasant into the graphic novel space with Bad Magic, an original story with art from P J Holden, to be published by HarperCollins Children's Books on 12th October 2023.
The Skulduggery Pleasant series follows the titular Skulduggery, a detective who also happens to be a skeleton, and his partner, Valkryie Cain, ostensibly human but with magical powers. The 144-page, full-colour graphic novel Bad Magic will be a completely new "self-contained story" which builds its own distinct lore separate to that presented in the book series. Landy spoke to me over Zoom along with HarperCollins Children's publisher for fiction and author brands Nick Lake, who is his editor. The author explained: "I didn't want it to be just for the hardcore [Skulduggery] reader or even the casual reader. You can pick it up even if you've never read a Skulduggery book." In the story, Skulduggery and Valkyrie resume their starring roles and begin to investigate a series of murders in a small town in Ireland "which is plagued by an entity called Mr Friendly, who has this essentially murderous plot working behind the scenes", says Landy, almost too gleefully. It "feels like an 'X-Files' episode", Lake adds.
Although "Skulduggery isn't something that gets talked about in the broadsheet press", according to Lake, the series has sold consistently well since its inception, having both incredible longevity and sustained success. Total sales of the series stand at nearly 1.9 million copies, equating to a hefty 12.6m [pounds sterling] in sales, through Nielsen BookScan UK. "I feel privileged to have gone on such a long journey and to have worked with such an extraordinary creator for so long," says Lake. He has been Landy's editor since 2006, when HarperCollins acquired the first three Skulduggery books in what was then, according to the publisher, one of the biggest auctions for a debut children's book ever.
The Skulduggery universe has exploded since the initial acquisition, with a 15-book series, two World Book Day books, a novella, a short story collection and The Skulduggery Pleasant Grimoire, not to mention Hell Breaks Loose, a prequel coming in April 2023. Landy has also penned Demon Road, a YA horror trilogy.
Innovation is a hallmark of the Skulduggery universe, which takes its cues from a "variety of not only genres, but also mediums," says Landy. "They're inspired by other books, by comics, by movies, by television, by music." Introducing a graphic novel to the universe was then a "natural fit" for a Skulduggery story and tied with HarperCollins' desire "to lead the market and do different, new, exciting things", adds Lake.
Unlike a novel where the "writer is always front and centre", Landy explains, with a graphic novel it is "completely different". "It absolutely starts off with my script, but you can't even say it's scripted by Derek Landy with the story by Derek Landy and art by P J Holden. It's script by Derek Landy and story by Derek Landy and P J Holden, because the words mean nothing on a comic script without the interpretation. It's a lot more like making a movie."
Having previously worked on 2000AD, a weekly British comic magazine launched in 1977, now owned by Rebellion Publishing, Holden brought both experience and "wonderful" talent to the page to create a "proper" graphic novel. In Bad Magic, his filmic, noir art, divided into comic book-style panels, leans into the horror genre, but manages to carefully toe the line between adult and child readership. A balance was struck between artist and writer, with Lake and his team as mediators. "I do have a tendency to go overboard because of my love of horror ... Every so often I tend to go too far, so that's when I have to be reined in," admits Landy. One redacted scene included a heart being ripped out of someone's chest--it was ruled too adult. Bad Magic will be marketed for readers aged 15 and over, but Lake stresses that "we don't want it to veer into that older YA".
He continues: "It's been really interesting working with Derek and with P J to make sure the darker content, once it's represented visually, isn't veering too old. We want to sit Bad Magic in that Waterstones children's book space, not purely in the adult graphic novel section."
Bad Magic arrives when graphic novels, spearheaded by Alice Oseman's record-breaking Heartstopper series, are becoming increasingly popular, having topped 50m [pounds sterling] in annual earnings through BookScan for the first time in 2022. Yet the timing is, in part, due to luck: "We sort of loved to say that it was a clever plan, but it also ended up being serendipitous," says Lake. Landy concurs: "The new emphasis that is now on graphic novels ever since Heartstopper is fortuitous; it's not the impetus [for Bad Magic], it's not how it started."
Reaching out
Bad Magic will undoubtedly tap into the pool of Skulduggery readers while hoping to entice new ones and appeal to the growing graphic novel audience. Readership has always been at the centre of Landy's ethos: he will always add an extra element, such as an extra chapter or a deleted scene, to every new edition of his books. He continues: "The emphasis has always been on the reader. It's always been on the audience. I never take them for granted--it's never to exploit their enthusiasm."
Commitment to his readers has been one of the reasons Landy has refused to write a prequel for so long, because "you know who lives and who dies and, in a series like this, it's all about who lives and dies, that's where the tension is". But then an unwitting fan, speaking to Landy while getting his book signed, turned the tide when he asked about a prequel: "I did my usual spiel and then I ended it with, 'In fact, the only way I would ever consider doing a prequel is if ...' and then I was like, 'Ooh!'"
The rest is publishing history. Hell Breaks Loose, with cover art by Matt Taylor, is due in April, yet it wouldn't be a Skulduggery novel without being slightly different. Unlike other prequels which act as an opening into the world, Hell Breaks Loose requires the reader to have already read the entire series. "It definitely hinges on reading all 15 books, because it deals with a piece of the series' history," explains Landy. The novel promises to reveal two things "that will blow the fans' minds", says Lake, adding: "If you're a fan, even though it's not book 16, you need to read it."
Bad Magic and Hell Breaks Loose are the first steps in an extensive publishing plan for the Skulduggery universe. "The excitement doesn't stop after 2023," Lake notes, with plans for the 20th anniversary of the first book in 2027 and into 2028. A redesign of the backlist can be expected, alongside "very, very, very secret things". Although Landy is currently not contracted for another graphic novel, Lake teases that "I don't think any of us wants to stop with just one".
Landy's top five
(01) Skulduggery Pleasant HCCB, 3rd Sept 2007, 9780007241620
392,920 units
(02) Playing with Fire HCCB, 1st Sept 2008, 9780007257058
232,005 units
(03) Faceless Ones HCCB, 3rd Sept 2009, 9780007302161
188,026 units
(04) Dark Days HCCB, 2nd Sept 2010, 9780007325979
160,799 units
(05) End of the World HCCB, 23rd Feb 2012, 9780007458202
104,712 units
Katie Fraser @katiefr3
Caption: ARTWORK FROM THE GRAPHIC NOVEL: P J HOLDEN (ARTIST), MATT SOFFE (COLOURIST), ROB JONES (LETTERER) AND PYE PARR (DESIGNER).
Copyright: COPYRIGHT 2023 The Stage Media Limited
http://www.thebookseller.com
Source Citation
Source Citation
MLA 9th Edition APA 7th Edition Chicago 17th Edition Harvard
Fraser, Katie. "Derek Landy returns to Skulduggery with P.J. Holden graphic novel: Derek Landy has collaborated with 2000AD illustrator P.J. Holden on Bad Magic, part of a move to expand the Skulduggery Pleasant oeuvre." The Bookseller, no. 6004, 27 Jan. 2023, pp. 14+. Gale General OneFile, link.gale.com/apps/doc/A734897388/ITOF?u=schlager&sid=bookmark-ITOF&xid=04590648. Accessed 20 Feb. 2024.