ShareThis is a very short blog post because a) this is the week before I head to the States and every second has become a rare and precious gem and b) because you’re going to be hearing a lot more about this very soon.
Every year Dublin UNESCO City of Literature and Dublin City Council Public Libraries choose a novel as part of a huge reading campaign for children and this coming year it’s KOTBD. This means a whole host of events all across Dublin in schools and libraries and other exciting venues between January and March, right up until the launch of the second book in the trilogy –
KNIGHTS OF THE BORROWED DARK – THE FOREVER COURT
(Did I drop the title down to its own line for dramatic purposes? … maybe.)
Dublin taught me I could be a writer. Before moving here – beardless and seventeen – I thought that writers were an absolutely different breed, a new species I could ever never aspire to be, and then I became part of a friendly, welcoming, inspiring literary community that showed me that books were a product of hard work, determination and craft, not some mystic gift. Setting this trilogy in Dublin wasn’t an accident, and though the Order goes back a very long way, their start will always be here.
I’m going to stop wurbling, and pop in an extract from Book 2, which has actually been edited by professionals and is far less rambly. But yes. Delighted.
*
Dublin was a city of secrets.
It was what Denizen liked about it. He’d loved maps as a kid, how cities seemed to make sense – neat grids of buildings and streets, geometric and solvable. Places where you could know where you were.
Dublin, however, was a liar of a city. It hid its enormity from you – tucked it into alleyways, veiled its true proportions in skirts of stone and lamplight. Dublin would trick you into thinking you’d figured out a new short cut and then reveal a whole town hiding between you and your destination, like a folding paper puzzle.
Maybe it was a bit early to have a favourite city. The one constant in the life of a Knight – besides horrible danger – was travel. London, New York, Sofia, Moscow – there was a good chance Denizen would get to bleed over all of them.
But Dublin would always be his first crush.
***
The KNIGHTS OF THE BORROWED DARK audiobook (narrated by me, in my MOST DRAMATIC VOICE) is now available for download and pre-order. Click here to buy or listen to an excerpt below. If you’d like a review copy drop me a line on Twitter or at dave@daverudden.com!