Requiem Ball with Derek Landy

I had the greatest night ever on Thursday night. I got invited to an exclusive party in London with Derek Landy to celebrate the launch of the FINAL Skulduggery Pleasant book.

The Requiem Ball

This was the first notice I saw about the Ball, and I knew that I had to try my hardest to win tickets. I was desperate to be there so I started to watch the blog and Facebook.

I got an email about a competition, the Requiem Ball was to be a Masked Ball, and in order to win a ticket you had to design a mask that you could wear.

If you know anything about the world of Skulduggery Pleasant, you will know that in order to protect yourself from magic and being controlled you have to 'take a name', this taken name acts like a bubble of protection over your real name. I decided that my taken name would be Catherine (Cat) Calamity, so I made a mask shaped like a cat.

It was completely home made and I was quite proud of it. However I didn't win the competition. Luckily for me my friend Kirsty also made a mask (she makes jewellery and did a beautiful wire mask) and she did win tickets. Luckily the prize was for 2 tickets so she agreed to take me with her.

The location of the party was a secret so we eagerly awaited the tickets arrival to tell us where it was.

This was the best Birthday present ever though, my Birthday was the 29th and the Ball was to be held on the 28th! So awesome.

So we found out that the Ball was to be held in 'The Crypt' on Bleeding Heart Yard near Greville Street in Farringdon. Luckily Kirsty knew where that was and we planned our trip.

We made it there in plenty of time, dressed up and in our masks and waited to go in.

As we entered we were given Wrist Bands, one black that said 'Bad to the Bone' on it and one orange that said 'Good at Heart', and we also got a badge. The location was perfect, it was like an old converted Church, really atmospheric.

We got given drinks as we arrived (non alcoholic of course) I had Strawberry Cordial with Cola it was yummy. There were professional waiters there, mostly french and very charming handing out the drinks and also mini burgers and cones with fish pieces and chips in.

We went around the hall and took photos

The Awesome Cake - painted with the book cover

Then we got an announcement that Derek Landy was about to arrive so we all headed back outside to greet him. He pulled up in a cool car and was met with cheers, which he loved!

We then headed back inside and queued up for photos with Derek

 There was a lovely lady there doing airbrush tattoos for everyone. you could either have the Skulduggery Pleasant logo, or a Skulduggery silhouette. I got the logo on the back of my right shoulder.

Yes, those are skulls on my tights!!!

Kirsty got a Skulduggery on her wrist

At 7pm they were going to do a Live Stream to all those that couldn't be there in person. Only 120 tickets were given out so a lot of fans missed out. During the live stream Derek Landy did a talk and a quiz. The 3 contestants for his quiz were Summer, Ellen and Lucas who run the Facebook Fan Page I believe. 

It had to be interrupted at one point because the Live Stream link crashed - so many people world wide tried to log on that it broke the system. 

It was good fun, I knew about half the answers to the questions and then hearing Derek tell us about his journey with Skulduggery and what it has all come to was incredible. I am so pleased to call myself one of his 'minions' (fans), he's a really nice guy and a very talented writer and he really appreciates all of his fans and the community that has built up around the books. 

After the talk, there was dancing and we each got a slice of the cake which was delicious.

Then they set up a table outside and we all got given a FREE copy of the brand new, final book 'The Dying of the Light' and to our surprise, Derek was going to sign them!

So we joined the queue and waited to get our copies.

It was an awesome night and he wrote 'To Becky' in my book and drew a little balloon with '26' inside, as it was my Birthday, he said he wanted me to remember when I got the book. It was so cool. We also got given a poster for the new book.

We smiled and thanked Derek and the helpers then made our way back. The train journey only took an hour and went smoothly.

It really was an incredible night and I feel so fortunate that I got to be there, it was a once in a lifetime moment and I would have been devestated if I had missed it.

I now have the final book to read and I know it will be Bittersweet - totally awesome and incredible and full of everything I could ever want it to be, but it really is the end and I have to come to terms with that fact. I have been following this series for years so it will be weird not waiting for the next installment.

Look out for my review, coming soon.

And by the slimmmest chance- Derek if you ever see this, I just want to say thank you! Thank you for your amazing stories and for being such a cool guy. 

 

I will be seeing Derek again next weekend anyway as he is doing a book signing in my local WH Smiths so I am going to go and get books 7 and 8 signed as he didn't come round here when they were released. If I get those signed I will have a full set of signed books!!!