Rebel Without A Pause

There’s a very nice feature on one-man publishing industry Eoin Colfer over at the Sunday Telegraph, in which Eoin outlines the reasons why people seem to like the unstoppable Artemis Fowl. Like, doesn’t every boy ‘n’ gal love a rebel? Quoth the Telly:

It’s the rule of every successful book, film or play that the leading character must be likeable. Otherwise, we won’t care what happens to them. That’s why author Eoin (pronounced Owen) Colfer was taking such a risk when he chose to make Artemis Fowl, the young hero of our book of the month for December, such an initially unappealing human being. The boy is 12 years old, a brilliant criminal mastermind and possessed of a cold, calculating determination that instantly sets him apart from friendlier fictional contemporaries such as Harry Potter and Alex Rider.

“The idea was to make Artemis a bit of a Huckleberry Finn character, a law unto himself,” says Colfer. “I wanted to make him so confident and outlandish that, in the end, the readers would be won over by his sheer audaciousness.
“It was a bit of a fine line and I confess I was worried because I’d got some criticism in the Irish press over the way in which Benny, the main character in my first book (BENNY AND OMAR) had left his little brother on his own when he should have been baby-sitting him. To me, Benny was basically a good lad who was a bit flawed, like lots of people are. It’s the same with Artemis. He loves his mother, but at the same time he likes to keep this hard face on him.
“To be honest, I wasn’t at all sure I’d got the balance right. I thought I was probably going to get buried.”

Erm, yes, but only in the publishing equivalent of a state funeral. Brace yourself for Colfer’s new departure, people – the standalone AIRMAN will be crash-landing onto a shelf near you on January 3rd …

Pretty Fly For A White Guy

Eoin Colfer? He’s flying right now. Artemis Fowl: The Time Paradox isn’t due until next July but in the meantime Colfer is up, up and away on a whole new adventure. AIRMAN, due out on January 3, is the first of what will very probably be a million-selling series – the Artemis Fowl books have already sold over eight million copies in 40 countries. Talking with John Spain in the Irish Independent last week, Colfer offered an insight into his inspiration for his new hero. Unsurprisingly, it all goes back to his childhood reading and experiences, to wit:

“I loved the impossible tasks set for the hero and the appalling badness of the villain. AIRMAN is high adventure to the hilt of its various swords.” Colfer says that he has always had an interest in history (his father is a historian) and when he was a child the family spent every summer on Hook Head. “Our caravan was situated between a medieval castle and the oldest working lighthouse in Europe. I loved climbing the nearby castle and imagining the grand romantic adventures that could have taken place. Standing on top of the parapet of Slade Castle, it was very easy to pretend that you were part of some perilous undertaking, and I remember thinking that if the king’s guards were closing in on me, the only way to escape would be to fly.”

Blummin’ king’s guards, eh? A ruddy pest they are, and no mistake …