Well, it hasn’t been much of a secret for a while now.  I don’t think I’m very good at keeping any of my projects secret once they’ve become complete concepts.  Anyway, my latest book is called “Sapphire Smyth & The Shadow Five”, and it is special for several reasons.

Firstly, since having the idea for this story I’ve not been able to leave it alone.  I was far too excited about it, even though I was already writing something else.  To be honest, my plan was to finish another series before moving on to a new story.  Sapphire Smyth, on the other hand, had a different plan.  I think you can guess who won haha.

This book is also serialized, which is another thing that’s quite special about it.  In short, it’s one book split into six installments.  At the moment, I am hoping to get those installments published monthly until I’ve finished the story.  However, life has thrown a fair few hurdles in the way recently, so I’m not making any firm promises.

I think there are loads of things that are special about this story.  Then again, I would think that haha.  Overall, I don’t think you’ll have read anything quite like it.

I know that it is early yet, but could you share with us some inspiration for your newest novel? Maybe share an excerpt?

Sure.  The first part of “Sapphire Smyth & The Shadow Five” is out now, and it includes a ‘Foreword’ which starts off like this…

The staircase in our house leads out of our living room, and at the bottom of those stairs lies a mystery.  Over the years, while sitting on our sofa, people have caught a glimpse of something that they can’t explain.  Whatever it is, it tends to lurk at the base of our stairs.  At a glance, this phenomenon looks like a shadow that has come alive, and then decided to dash into hiding.  Until recently I hadn’t seen it for myself, but now that I have, I can honestly tell you I have no clue what it is.

So, all of this made me curious.  What if shadows could come to life?  After all, Peter Pan’s did.  But what if these shadows were a separate lifeform?  Perhaps they are creatures that live beyond our sight—most of the time.  After considering this, I began to wonder what would happen if we could interact with these magical beasts too.  I mean, how cool might that be?

In the end, I decided there could be all sorts of danger involved.  To be fair, it might be complete chaos if we all had access to these shadow-creatures.  If they did exist, I concluded that only a small group of people would even know about them.  Likewise, those people would have a unique bond with these mystical wonders, while the rest of us remained unaware of their existence.  Enter Sapphire Smyth.

 

Okay, that’s how I developed the idea for the story, but you also wanted an excerpt.  Here’s the start of the prologue…

 

Jason couldn’t remember waking without Michelle beside him.  He was certain that it had never happened before.  But for some reason, she wasn’t there.

To begin with, Jason suspected someone had woken him.  When his eyelids parted, he glanced at the window beside his bed.  Darkness stared back at him — it wasn’t morning.  With a soft grunt, Jason rolled under his duvet and wondered why he was awake.  That was the moment when he realised that Michelle was missing.  It didn’t matter how much his fingers fumbled with the soft sheets, there was no doubt that she wasn’t there.

Dazed, Jason sat upright and dragged both his hands through his dark, fuzzy hair to shift it from his face.  Then, through blurry eyes, he became aware of an odd glimmer of light in the corner.  Well, he thought he did.  Whatever it was, it faded in an instant.  Jason could only assume he’d dreamt it, even though he felt like someone was in the room with him.  When he studied the room, Jason noticed that the door was shut tight too.  The door was never closed.  Michelle always left it open so they could hear their daughter, Sapphire, if she needed them.  Something was wrong.  There was a reason Michelle wasn’t in bed, and Jason had an uneasy feeling that he couldn’t explain.

Panic churned in Jason’s stomach.  He shifted from the bed and threw on an old grey t-shirt which in no way matched the joggers he was wearing.  When he reached for the door handle, a shudder raced through him.  Without question, there was something wrong.  With a sharp tug, Jason opened the bedroom door and faced the staircase ahead of him.  All his senses were on high alert.  In many ways, he didn’t have any reason to think that things weren’t right.  After all, everywhere was calm and quiet.  But that was the problem:  it was too calm and too quiet.  With his heart attempting to break out of his chest, Jason turned and made his way to Sapphire’s bedroom. 

After narrowing his eyes, Jason breathed a little relief as he peeked into the nursery.  Sapphire was there, tucked in her blankets in the middle of her cot.  She was safe, although Jason was still tense.  He needed to find Michelle, so he backed away from Sapphire’s room and headed for the stairs.

‘Michelle,’ he called out, as his foot dropped onto the first step.  ‘Chelle.  What’s going on?  Where are you?’

There was no reply, and the overwhelming silence concerned Jason more.  Not even Sapphire stirred.  Clenching the banister, Jason staggered further down the stairs.  With each cautious step, he continued to call his wife while trying to not wake their daughter.

‘Michelle.  Where are you?’

Before reaching the bottom of the staircase, Jason stalled.  In front of him, everything was black—like the last few stairs had turned to soot.  Somehow, the pale walls looked like they were made from coal too.  Bewildered, Jason reached forwards and gazed in disbelief when his hand appeared to dissolve into a gloomy cloud.  A foul taste flooded his mouth.  Michelle was in trouble, Jason was certain of it.  Without thinking, he stumbled into the darkness.

Is that enough?  I’m sure it isn’t, but it’s all I can give you for now haha.

You’ve had lots of new creatures involved in your previous books.  Will we be getting to know any more in the ‘Sapphire Smyth’ books?

*Giggles*.  Of course!  Unlike my other books, most of the creatures in the “Sapphire Smyth” story will be ones that many people are familiar with.  Some of those animals exist in real life, and some are popular mythical beasts.  There will be dragons, mermaids, fairies, and even a magical fox.  However, most of these creatures are a little (in some cases a lot) different from how they usually appear.  On top of that, there will also be one beast in the story that you haven’t come across before.  After all, I’ve written this story—there had to be something you’d never heard of.  On that note, I’ve already said enough, and you can find out more in the books.

You already had me hooked but now, I’m looking at my reading schedule and trying to find where I can push it up on the list! I love mythical creatures and now I am trying to think of what new creature could possibly be between those pages.

Now that you have me on the edge of my seat in anticipation for when I read your new book, let’s talk about your previous books.  Orgo are something entirely unique to your novels, never before seen or heard of. Where did you come up with the idea of these amazing, cuddle-worthy, runners?

I could talk about the orgo all day.

In the beginning, I had an idea for a story that was set in an ice age.  Years ago, I’d seen the movie ‘The Day After Tomorrow’, and the concept fascinated me.  In that movie, climate change resulted in our world being buried in snow.  I started to wonder what may happen after that.  How would we survive?  Would that frozen period last a long time?  In the end, I wondered what it would be like if we faced an icy future for many centuries.  Lots of things came to mind, including the evolution of new creatures that could cope with the ice and snow.  So, that’s how the orgo were born.

At first, I considered my love of dinosaurs and large ice age mammals when developing the orgo.  Therefore, the orgo were always destined to be big animals.  But I also wanted them to be something that could captivate my children’s imaginations.  That’s when the orgo became fast.  One of our children, Lewis, loves cars and horse-riding.  Those two interests of Lewis’ very much influenced the creation of the orgo.  In many ways, orgo are like futuristic horses, although those two species are unrelated.

Moreover, I wanted the orgo to be creatures that readers could fall in love with—and they really have!  Each orgo has its own unique personality, and most of them are very loyal and affectionate towards their human companions.

My son loves fast things too and that might be part of why he loves the Orgo. They are big, soft, and fast. Almost like a combination of some strange genetic combination of a dog and racehorse. They are loveable for sure.

The Orgo are adorable creatures that are more than animal to be ridden. Can you begin by telling readers a little about the Orgo Runners series and where the inspiration originated? Could you share with us a picture or two of some of the Orgo?

There it is!  I told you that people adored the orgo haha.

With the story, I decided that the human species would struggle to survive after such a catastrophic event.  Although a few people might survive, our success would likely be very limited.  As such, our world would become cold and limited in resources, with only a handful of human colonies.  Further to this, I considered whether our usual quest for power would remain, and I decided it would.  Therefore, in the Orgo Runners books, there is one human settlement that holds much more power than any of the others.  Oh, and the ruler of that colony (Rada) is quite the force to be reckoned with.

Having said that, I’m now going to use the synopsis from the first Orgo Runners book to explain what it’s about.  It goes like this…

Being great at something isn’t always a good thing…

14-year-old Fayth is a champion! Along with her friends, she races animals known as orgo in order to survive the aftermath of a new ice age. But, when Fayth’s friend is caught stealing, she has an awful choice to make…

Let her friend face a fate worse than death with his captors or agree to make a dangerous journey delivering food supplies.

Join Fayth, Ink, and Megg as they embark on their first deadly mission with their orgo companions.
Find out if their skill at riding orgo will help Fayth and her friends succeed!

Discover the orgo in this gripping, action-packed story full of adventure and fantastic creatures!

Wait, you wanted also wanted orgo pictures.  Here’s a couple from the books…

I think your idea of the world in a time like that sounds accurate. My older son is 7 but reads on almost a fifth-grade level (about age 9 level) and he wanted to read these when I began telling him about them. Now he loves reading a chapter now and then when I can pull him away from other distractions for a while.

Speaking of inspiration, as an author, the smallest image or event can become the beginning of a new story. How many stories ideas are swimming around your head waiting to be written? How do you choose which to write and which will never be written?

Phew!  Where do I begin?  Earlier, I described the inspiration for the “Sapphire Smyth” story.  That book began its life as an unexplained event.  For me, the foundations of a story could show up anywhere, and usually when I don’t expect them to. Then, when something like that happens, I immediately begin asking myself ‘What if…?’ questions.  That helps top expand the idea.  If that process goes far enough, then that idea will become a story waiting to be written.

As readers, we often joke about our TBR (To Be Read) pile, and how we will never read all the books we intend to.  Well, in my life, I have a TBW (To Be Written) pile, and it works in a very similar way.  I fully intend to write everything that’s on that TBW pile.  Is that realistic?  Probably not!  By the time I’ve finished writing one project, I’ve usually added another two (or more) to my TBW.  How many story ideas are swimming around in my head?  Too many to count!

I have never heard about a TBW pile but it makes complete sense. Since beginning my first novel, I found it difficult to not see new possible story ideas. Inspiration can come from anywhere and I am always asking “What if….?” as well.

What has been your favorite thing about becoming a published author? Has there been one moment that really made it sink in that your books were in the hands of readers and being enjoyed around the world? How did that change you and the life you had prior to being published?

It was my birthday a couple of weeks ago.  At lunchtime that day, I received a photograph on Twitter of a young man who reads the Orgo Runners books.  He is about seven-years-old.  Anyway, in this young man’s hands was a birthday card—which he had made by himself.  The card was beautifully written to me, and he had drawn some of the creatures from the Orgo Runners series on it.  Inside, there were more pictures of the two of us riding orgo.  But here’s the thing…

I have spoken to this child’s mum on many occasions through social media.  She is a huge supporter of my stories, and she introduced her children to Orgo Runners.  But I haven’t met her in person, and I haven’t met her children either.  Nevertheless, one of her children made me a birthday card.  I’m not going to lie—I cried when I saw it.

Need I say more?  When people love my stories that much, it is an incredible feeling!

Awe, my heart melted reading that. I completely understand the tears, that has to be one of the most rewarding moments of being an author…seeing that impact you have on readers.

Having a new book published is a huge accomplishment, regardless of how many you’ve published before. Is there anything special you do to celebrate the release of a new novel?

I don’t write on publication day.  That’s it haha.  That’s generally all I do to celebrate.  I give myself a day off from writing.  During that day, I tend to reflect on what I’ve accomplished.  The next day, I then carry on as normal and get back to writing.  However, on the day when the first part of “Sapphire Smyth & The Shadow Five” is released (March 16^th), I’m at a literature festival in the north of England.  I will be celebrating the launch of “Sapphire” by taking the story to that festival—in person.  Now I’ve said that I’m terrified.