Derek Landy (born 23 October 1974) is an Irish author and screenwriter, known for the ''

Skulduggery Pleasant ''Skulduggery Pleasant'' is a series of Dark fantasy, dark fantasy novels written by Irish author Derek Landy. Tom Percival is the series' illustrator. The books revolve around the adventures of fledgling detective Valkyrie Cain and her mentor ...

'' and '' Demon Road'' book series. Since 2018, he has also written numerous

comic book A comic book, comic-magazine, or simply comic is a publication that consists of comics art in the form of sequential juxtaposed panel (comics), panels that represent individual scenes. Panels are often accompanied by descriptive prose and wri ...

series at

Marvel Comics Marvel Comics is a New York City–based comic book publishing, publisher, a property of the Walt Disney Company since December 31, 2009, and a subsidiary of Disney Publishing Worldwide since March 2023. Marvel was founded in 1939 by Martin G ...

Career

Landy has written two screenplays that have been made into films, the

IFTA Ifta is a former municipality in the Wartburgkreis district of Thuringia, Germany Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It lies between the Baltic Sea and the North Sea to the north and the Al ...

award-winning '' Dead Bodies'' and the IFTA-nominated ''

Boy Eats Girl ''Boy Eats Girl'' is a 2005 horror-comedy film directed by Stephen Bradley and starring Samantha Mumba, produced and shot in Ireland. The plot tells of a teenage boy who comes back to life as a zombie, similar to the plot of the American film ''M ...

'' starring

Samantha Mumba Samantha Tamania Anne Cecilia Mumba (born 18 January 1983) is an Irish R&B singer-songwriter, dancer, actress, fashion model and TV presenter. In 2000, at the age of 17, she shot to fame with the release of her debut single " Gotta Tell You", w ...

. Landy himself was nominated for an IFTA for Best Script. Frustrated with the collaborative process of filmmaking, Landy moved on to writing the ''

'' series, starting with the novel of the same name. The novel was published by

HarperCollins HarperCollins Publishers LLC is a British–American publishing company that is considered to be one of the "Big Five (publishers), Big Five" English-language publishers, along with Penguin Random House, Hachette Book Group USA, Hachette, Macmi ...

, who paid £1.8 million for the publishing rights, growing to comprise a nine-book series, a six-book sequel series, a spin-off, and a prequel, with a third (three-book) series in development. In 2007, he signed a deal with

Warner Bros. Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc. (WBEI), commonly known as Warner Bros. (WB), is an American filmed entertainment studio headquartered at the Warner Bros. Studios complex in Burbank, California and the main namesake subsidiary of Warner Bro ...

worth an estimated US$1.1 million for the rights to adapt his ''Skulduggery Pleasant'' series, which he intended to adapt himself. 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. Landy is a fan of

Joss Whedon Joseph Hill "Joss" Whedon ( ; born June 23, 1964) is an American screenwriter, director, producer, comic book writer, and composer. He is best known as the creator of several television series: the supernatural drama ''Buffy the Vampire Slayer' ...

's works, notably ''

Buffy the Vampire Slayer ''Buffy the Vampire Slayer'' is an American supernatural fiction, supernatural drama television series created by writer and director Joss Whedon. The concept is based on the Buffy the Vampire Slayer (film), 1992 film, also written by Whedon, a ...

'', as well as

Philip Pullman Sir Philip Nicholas Outram Pullman (born 19 October 1946) is an English writer. He is best known for the fantasy trilogy ''His Dark Materials''. The first volume, ''Northern Lights'' (1995), won the Carnegie Medal

's ''

His Dark Materials ''His Dark Materials'' is a trilogy of fantasy novels by Philip Pullman consisting of '' Northern Lights'' (1995; published as ''The Golden Compass'' in North America), '' The Subtle Knife'' (1997), and '' The Amber Spyglass'' (2000). It follo ...

'' series. He is also a fan of ''

Gilmore Girls ''Gilmore Girls'' is an American comedy drama television series created by Amy Sherman-Palladino, starring Lauren Graham and Alexis Bledel. The show debuted October 5, 2000, on The WB and became a flagship series for the network. The show ran fo ...

'' and ''

Doctor Who ''Doctor Who'' is a British science fiction television series broadcast by the BBC since 1963. The series, created by Sydney Newman, C. E. Webber and Donald Wilson (writer and producer), Donald Wilson, depicts the adventures of an extraterre ...

''. Landy wrote a short story based on the

Tenth Doctor The Tenth Doctor is an incarnation of the Doctor, the protagonist of the British science fiction television series ''Doctor Who''. He is played by David Tennant in three series and nine specials. The character has also appeared in other ''Docto ...

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 Class, Classes, or The Class may refer to: Common uses not otherwise categorized * Class (biology), a taxonomic rank * Class (knowledge representation), a collection of individuals or objects * Class (philosophy), an analytical concept used d ...

'', only for the series to be cancelled before the episode he wrote could be produced.

Personal life

Landy attended

Drogheda Grammar School Drogheda Grammar School is an Irish co-educational multi-denominational school, located on Mornington Road, Drogheda, County Louth. History Drogheda Grammar School was founded under Royal Charter in 1669 by Erasmus Smith and is one of the ol ...

during his childhood years, and later studied animation at

Ballyfermot College Ballyfermot College of Further Education (BCFE; ) is an educational institution in Ballyfermot, Dublin, Ireland, a college of further and higher education. Management Ballyfermot College of Further Education is managed by the City of Dubl ...

. He also has a black belt in kenpo karate. Prior to his contract with

, he worked on his parents' vegetable farm. Since 2013, he has been dating Laura Jordan, a fellow writer from

Sittingbourne Sittingbourne is an industrial town in the Swale district of Kent, southeast England, from Canterbury and from London, beside the Roman Watling Street, an ancient trackway used by the Romans and the Anglo-Saxons. The town stands next to th ...

Kent Kent is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South East England. It is bordered by Essex across the Thames Estuary to the north, the Strait of Dover to the south-east, East Sussex to the south-west, Surrey to the west, and Gr ...

, and they are now engaged. The couple lives in

Dublin Dublin is the capital and largest city of Republic of Ireland, Ireland. Situated on Dublin Bay at the mouth of the River Liffey, it is in the Provinces of Ireland, province of Leinster, and is bordered on the south by the Dublin Mountains, pa ...

with their dog and seven cats.

Reception

In a review of his first book, ''Skulduggery Pleasant'', Sarah Webb of the ''

Irish Independent The ''Irish Independent'' is an Irish daily newspaper A newspaper is a Periodical literature, periodical publication containing written News, information about current events and is often typed in black ink with a white or gray backgrou ...

'' wrote that it "is taut, full of zippy dialogue and fantastical visuals".

Awards

In 2008, Landy won the

Red House Children's Book Award The Children's Book Award is a British literary award for children's books, run by the Federation of Children's Book Groups and previously known as the Red House Children's Book Award. Books published in the U.K. during the preceding calendar yea ...

. ''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. In addition in 2010 ''Skulduggery Pleasant (Sceptre of the Ancients)'' was voted as Irish book of the decade.

Bibliography

''
Skulduggery Pleasant ''Skulduggery Pleasant'' is a series of Dark fantasy, dark fantasy novels written by Irish author Derek Landy. Tom Percival is the series' illustrator. The books revolve around the adventures of fledgling detective Valkyrie Cain and her mentor ...
'' series

First series (Phase 1)

* ''

'' (April 2007); US title ''Sceptre of the Ancients'' for distinction from the series name * '' Playing With Fire'' (April 2008) * ''

The Faceless Ones ''The Faceless Ones'' is the Doctor Who missing episodes, mostly missing eighth serial of the Doctor Who (season 4), fourth season in the British science fiction television series ''Doctor Who'', which was first broadcast in six weekly parts fro ...

'' (April 2009) * '' Dark Days'' (April 2010) * '' Mortal Coil'' (September 2010) * ''

Death Bringer ''Death Bringer'', alternatively titled ''Galdregon's Domain'' in Europe, is a 1988 role-playing video game originally developed and self-published by Pandora (Interceptor Software), Pandora and released for the Amiga, Atari ST, Commodore 64, T ...

'' (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 Resurrection or anastasis is the concept of coming back to life after death. Reincarnation is a similar process hypothesized by other religions involving the same person or deity returning to another body. The disappearance of a body is anothe ...

'' (June 2017) * ''

Midnight Midnight is the transition time from one day to the next – the moment when the date changes, on the local official clock time for any particular jurisdiction. By clock time, midnight is the opposite of noon, differing from it by 12 hours. ...

'' (June 2018) * '' Bedlam'' (May 2019) * '' Seasons of War'' (April 2020) * ''

Dead or Alive A wanted poster (or wanted sign) is a poster distributed to let the public know of a person whom authorities wish to apprehend. They generally include a picture of the person, either a photograph when one is available or of a facial composite ...

'' (April 2021) * '' Until the End'' (April 2022)

Third series (Phase 3)

* '' A Mind Full of Murder'' (March 2024) * '' A Heart Full of Hatred'' (March 2025)

''From the World of Skulduggery Pleasant''

* '' Tanith Low in... The Maleficent Seven'' (March 2013) * '' Hell Breaks Loose'' (March 2023) * '' Bad Magic: A Skulduggery Pleasant Graphic Novel'' (September 2023) * '' The Haunted House on Hollow Hill'' (September 2024)

'' 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 Captain America is a superhero created by Joe Simon and Jack Kirby who appears in American comic books published by Marvel Comics. The character first appeared in '' Captain America Comics'' #1, published on December 20, 1940, by Timely C ...

/ Iron Man: The Armor & The Shield'' (December 2021–May 2022) * '' All-Out Avengers'' (September 2022–January 2023) * '' Avengers: Beyond'' (March 2023–present)

Miscellaneous

* ''

'': "The Mystery of the Haunted Cottage" (2013), short story

References

External links

''Skulduggery Pleasant''
(official) * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Landy, Derek 1974 births American Kenpo practitioners Irish children's writers Irish fantasy writers Irish horror writers Irish male novelists Irish writers of young adult literature Living people People educated at Drogheda Grammar School People from Fingal Skulduggery Pleasant books

Career

Personal life

Reception

Awards

Bibliography

''Skulduggery Pleasant ''Skulduggery Pleasant'' is a series of Dark fantasy, dark fantasy novels written by Irish author Derek Landy. Tom Percival is the series' illustrator. The books revolve around the adventures of fledgling detective Valkyrie Cain and her mentor ...'' series

First series (Phase 1)

Second series (Phase 2)

Third series (Phase 3)

''From the World of Skulduggery Pleasant''

'' The Demon Road Trilogy''

Marvel Comics

Miscellaneous

References

External links

''
Skulduggery Pleasant ''Skulduggery Pleasant'' is a series of Dark fantasy, dark fantasy novels written by Irish author Derek Landy. Tom Percival is the series' illustrator. The books revolve around the adventures of fledgling detective Valkyrie Cain and her mentor ...
'' series