Peadar Ó Guilín and Philip Reeve talk about how they construct imaginary places, come up with new ideas, and find inspiration in the world around them.
“If I want to do something different, I create a different world. ” Philip Reeve
Peadar Ó Guilín’s The Call asks: could you survive it? A genre-changing blend of fantasy, horror, and the darker parts of Irish folklore, the call won’t leave your mind from the moment you choose to answer it. Three minutes. You wake up alone in a horrible land. A horn sounds. The call has begun. Two minutes. The Sidhe are close. They’re the most beautiful and terrible people you’ve ever seen. And they’ve seen you. One minute. Nessa will be called soon. No one thinks she has any chance to survive. But she’s determined to prove them wrong. Time’s up…
2026 is the 25th anniversary of YA steampunk novel Mortal Engines . Philip Reeve recently returned to the city-eat-city world of Mortal Engines in Thunder City , set about 100 years before the original book and featuring an entirely new cast of characters. In its sequel Bridge of Storms, Tamzin Pook and her band of adventurers find themselves aboard Museion, a peaceable academic city which has volunteered to be eaten by London to save its cargo of precious books and artefacts from other predators. But before it can rendezvous with the mighty traction city, Museion must evade a motorised nomad band and a sinister experimental suburb, and Tamzin must face an old enemy…
Peadar’s YA debut, The Inferior, was published in 2007. The Call, inspired by the landscape of the northwest of Ireland, was followed by The Invasion . His fantasy and science fiction short stories have appeared in many publications, including Black Gate magazine and an anthology celebrating the best of the iconic Weird Tales.
An author and illustrator, Philip followed Mortal Engines with Predator’s Gold , Infernal Devices , and A Darkling Plain , and prequels Fever Crumb , A Web of Air , and Scrivener’s Moon . His awards include the Carnegie Medal for Writing, Guardian Children’s Fiction Prize, and the Nestlé Smarties Book Prize for 9 to 11 years.