BREAK OUT THE DEFIBRILLATORS

EOIN'S IN TOWN!

On Friday, June 23rd, Eoin Colfer payed a visit to the forums of popular AF fansite, Artemis Fowl Confidential. He registered and posted a "newbie thread", titled Hello from Ireland.

Mr. Colfer graciously met his fans and answered plenty of questions, but not before being given the third degree by his own welcoming committee. And why not? If you told me that a best-selling fiction author took time out to hang with his fans on an online community, I'd be pretty skeptical, too. So for a while, Colfer's newbie thread had an overall "Welcome, but if you're an imposter we'll have to ban you...Enjoy!" feel to it, but that soon changed once everyone realized that the person they were talking to was, indeed, the famed Irish novelist in the virtual flesh.

Needless to say, everyone was excited. The fans had enough questions and comments to keep the man busy. Mr. Colfer was only too happy to reply (and the forumers were, unsurprisingly, just as happy to see him reply). He even dished out some good advice to the aspiring writers among his fans. "...there are no shortcuts," writes Colfer, "a book is going to take a year plus to write and there is no way around that. Commitment and long hours alone are the writer's lot- but there is nothing to beat the feeling of holding your own published book in your hands." Well said, Mr. Colfer. But Eoin wasn't the only one explaining things--the roles were switched when he was the one with questions about the difference between web forums and web blogs. Good thing his Internet generation fans have got his back.

Colfer also released some new information concerning his Artemis Fowl series. To answer a question of whether he'll write more Fowl books, Colfer said that he has six planned, but is unsure of what may come after, though anything is possible. He didn't want to disclose too much about the movie adaptation of the book, but he did mention that it will have a "brand new explosive ending". Could this mean a completely different plot twist? A simple change in dialogue? Or Butler spontaneously growing a full head of hair due to bio bomb radiation? We can only speculate. There was one more important piece of information: the release date for the next book in the AF series. Colfer has announced that Artemis Fowl: The Lost Colony will be released on August 3rd, 2006.

The Irish author also answered some questions that were a little less business-like and a little more fun. Holly/Trouble shippers were given a shining ray of hope as Colfer gave his Maybe-But-Maybe-Not answer that ended in an ambiguous, "we will have to see what happens". Fans got a peek at what's to come for the sixth installation in the AF series as Colfer hinted at a new "dodgy hypnotherapist called Doctor Kronski" who may be making an appearance. And after much was learned and about a dozen asterisk-ified heart attacks were had, Colfer said his farewells and took off to return to his exciting life of tours and coronary-prone fans.

The visit was short, sweet, but it wasn't over yet. Colfer returned weeks later to leave an encouraging review for the fanfiction "Hunted", written by user colfergeek. The fans, especially colfergeek, were pleasantly surprised once again and await Colfer's next visit with anticipation. Colfer has always shown an interest in his fans and enjoys talking with them, so keep an eye out! He just might pay the good people at Artemis Fowl Confidential another visit sometime soon.