Derek Landy
Derek Landy | |
---|---|
![]() Landy in Edinburgh, August 2011 | |
Born | Lusk, County Dublin, Ireland | 23 October 1974
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 book series.
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 Harper Collins, who paid £1.8 million for the publishing rights.[2] There are 14 books in the series with 3 spin offs. In 2007, he signed a deal with Warner Bros. worth an estimated US$1 million for the rights to adapt his Skulduggery Pleasant series, which he will adapt himself.[3] However, his script was constantly rewritten and Landy, unhappy with the results, bought back the rights. He is currently[when?] working on a script with the producers of Clash of the Titans.
Landy is a fan of Joss Whedon's works, notably Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Philip Pullman's His Dark Materials series.[4] 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".
Personal life[]
Landy attended Drogheda Grammar School during his childhood years, and later studied animation at Ballyfermot College.[5] He also has a black belt in kenpo karate.[3] Prior to his contract with HarperCollins, he worked on his parents' vegetable farm.[1]
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 fantastically visuals".[2]
Awards[]
In 2008, Landy won the Red House Children's Book Award.[6] 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.[7] In addition in 2010 Skulduggery Pleasant (Sceptre of the Ancients) was voted as Irish book of the decade.[8]
Bibliography[]
Skulduggery Pleasant series[]
First series[]
- Skulduggery Pleasant (April 2007); US title Sceptre of the Ancients for distinction from the series name
- Skulduggery Pleasant: Playing With Fire (April 2008)
- Skulduggery Pleasant: The Faceless Ones (April 2009)
- Skulduggery Pleasant: Dark Days (April 2010)
- Skulduggery Pleasant: Mortal Coil (September 2010)
- Skulduggery Pleasant: Death Bringer (September 2011)
- Skulduggery Pleasant: Kingdom of the Wicked (August 2012)
- Skulduggery Pleasant: Last Stand of Dead Men (August 2013)
- Skulduggery Pleasant: The Dying of the Light (August 2014)
Second series[]
- Skulduggery Pleasant: Resurrection (June 2017)
- Skulduggery Pleasant: Midnight (June 2018)
- Skulduggery Pleasant: Bedlam (May 2019)
- Skulduggery Pleasant: Seasons of War (April 2020)
- Skulduggery Pleasant: Dead or Alive (April 2021)
The Demon Road Trilogy[]
- (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)
Miscellaneous[]
- Doctor Who: "The Mystery of the Haunted Cottage" (2013), short story
- The Black Order (2019), comic series
- Marvel Comics #1000: "Deadpool Locked" (2019),
- The Falcon and the Winter Soldier (2020), tie-in comic series
References[]
- ^ Jump up to: a b Dwyer, Clara (11 December 2011). "Plotting a great escape". Irish Independent. Retrieved 14 November 2013.
- ^ Jump up to: a b Webb, Sarah (24 February 2007). "Skulduggery that's worth a cool £1.8m!". Irish Independent. Archived from the original on 20 October 2014. Retrieved 14 November 2013.
- ^ Jump up to: a b "Warner Bros. scoops high-profile kids' book series". Reuters. 24 May 2007. Archived from the original on 22 February 2014. Retrieved 14 November 2013.
- ^ Rowbotham, Jill (6 March 2010). "Pointing the Bone". The Australian. Retrieved 14 November 2013.
- ^ Spain, John (24 February 2007). "Gardener in ?1.5m book deal hailed as new JK Rowling". Irish Independent. Archived from the original on 22 February 2014. Retrieved 14 November 2013.
- ^ Pauli, Michelle (31 May 2008). "Hay festival: Derek Landy wins Red House prize". The Guardian. Archived from the original on 10 August 2014. Retrieved 14 November 2013.
- ^ "List of winners". Archived from the original on 18 May 2015. Retrieved 16 May 2015.
- ^ "Homepage of Sponsor". Archived from the original on 18 May 2015. Retrieved 16 May 2015.
External links[]
- Skulduggery Pleasant (official)
- Derek Landy at IMDb
- Derek Landy at the Internet Speculative Fiction Database
- Living people
- 1974 births
- Irish children's writers
- Irish fantasy writers
- Irish horror writers
- Irish writers of young adult literature
- People educated at Drogheda Grammar School
- People from Fingal
- Irish male novelists
- American Kenpo practitioners