What are you working on next?
My latest novel, 'Kingdoms in Crisis', is now available on Smashwords - a few months later than intended, unfortunately. I am pleased with the finished product, so I hope my readers will be, too.
'Kingdoms in Crisis' will be followed by 'Irondale', which continues the story in the first book to some extent, but will be OK to read as a standalone. The first draft of 'Irondale' is about 50% completed, but I have had to put it on a back-burner because of pressures at work. I hope to get back to it soon, and will be aiming for a 2016 release. I have also started working on a couple of other projects, of which more at a later date!
Do you remember the first story you ever read, and the impact it had on you?
I was brought up on 'classic' children's literature. The first book I really remember was Charles Kingsley's 'The Heroes', which my father used to read to me in bed at night. I suppose it must have had a profound impact, because I grew up passionate about Greek mythology and Ancient History ... so much so that I took my university degree in Ancient History and Archaeology.
In terms of the books I was able to read for myself, my greatest loves were the re-tellings of legendary and mythical stories by such luminaries as Roger Lancelyn Green, Rosemary Sutcliffe, Henry Treece and Geoffrey Trease. Lancelyn Green's 'The Adventures of Robin Hood' was my absolute favourite book until I was around ten years old. At that time I first read 'King Solomon's Mines', which set me off on a crusade to read as much Rider Haggard as I could. Then, when I was eleven, I discovered 'The Lord of the Rings', and the rest is history!
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