Welcome Kay Harborne alias Karen King.

I'm very pleased to welcome back my good friend, author Karen King. Today however, she's under the guise of Kay Harborne – her pseudonym for her romantic novels. Laren will be telling us about her latest romance Never Say Forever.

Karen has written around 120 children's books – ranging from beautiful picture books for little toddlers, through to joke books, novelty books, bedtime story books and adventure and mystery novels. She also writes for young adults.

Her first YA book, Perfect Summer is set just a little in the future when society is so obsessed with perfection that the government gives grants for plastic surgery. The book was runner up in the Red Telephone Books YA Novel 2011 competition. The controversial story is proving a lively topic for debate when Karen visits senior schools around the country.

She has also written for many children's comics and magazines, including Jackie, Sindy, Barby, Winnie the Pooh and Thomas the Tank Engine.

As Kay Harborne she has written several romance stories for women's magazines. Her romantic novel, The Millionaire Plan was nominated for the RONE Award earlier this year.

Being such a prolific writer, Karen is also an experienced writing tutor and currently tutors for The Writers' Bureau. This year she was also delighted to accept the invitation to become Patron of Reading for Blessed Edward Oldcorne Catholic College, Worcester.

Her latest book, Never Say Forever was originally published as a People’s Friend Pocket Novel, then in large print by Linford Romance, and has most recently been published by Astraea Press.

I'm pleased to be able to feature it here:

Never Say Forever blurb

Do you follow your dream or follow your heart?

That’s the decision Kendall McKenzie has to make when she meets hunky businessman Jake Newman. It’s obvious that he’s as attracted to her as she is to him. But Kendall has vowed to never get married – and it seems that Jake, too, is determined to never commit. When the two are together however sparks fly and it’s obvious to everyone except themselves that they’re meant to be together. Can Kendall trust Jake enough to give him her heart? And if she does will she have to say goodbye to her dream?

Extract

He turned and saw an open door leading into the kitchen where Kendall, her back towards him, was unplugging the kettle. She was wearing a neat, grey, pinstriped suit, the jacket tapering in at the waist and the skirt finishing just above the knee, with enough of a slit to reveal her very shapely legs.

She turned around and smiled at him, and his heart missed a beat. She was incredibly pretty and fresh, even at this early hour. Her glowing hair was loosely tied back from her face, which was bare of make--‐ up apart from a touch of lipstick, and her eyes were bright and sparkling, as if she’d had a restful night’s sleep.

“OK, I’m ready now. I’ve just got to get my suitcase out of the bedroom.”

Here was where he was supposed to tell her that she was staying at the Birmingham office, that he didn’t need her in Spain, after all. But the words wouldn’t come. He might not need her in Spain with him, but he definitely wanted her there.

“Ouch!” Kendall’s cry of pain interrupted his thoughts. He dashed down the hall and saw her bending down, rubbing the back of her leg, the suitcase on the floor behind her.

“Are you all right?” he asked, worried. His eyes rested on the hole in her tights and the bruise already forming. “That looks nasty,” he said sympathetically.

She flushed. “The case was heavier than I thought. I stumbled and caught the back of my leg with it. I’ll be fine. I just need to change my tights.”

“I’ll wait in the car for you.” He effortlessly picked up the heavy suitcase. “And we’re all right for a few minutes if you want to put some ice on that bruise.” Without waiting for an answer, he carried the suitcase out the front door.

Maybe he was the one who needed the ice, he thought, as he took the case down to the car. The sight of Kendall’s bare skin peeping through the hole in her tights and hint of cleavage as she’d bent down to rub her leg had certainly made his temperature rise.

Don’t even think about it, he warned himself as he pressed the remote to open the car boot. This was a business trip, and he had to keep it that way. He never mixed business with pleasure and he wasn’t about to start now. Not even with Kendall McKenzie.

Especially not with Kendall McKenzie.

****

It was only as she walked into the car park at the back of the flats that Kendall realised she didn’t know what sort of car Jake drove, but the sleek, midnight--‐ blue sedan just had to be his. She was a bit taken aback when he got out, walked around,

and opened the passenger door for her. Not many guys did that nowadays.

“Thank you,” she said as she slid onto the leather seat.

“My pleasure.” There was a hint of teasing in his reply, as if he knew he’d surprised her.

“Love the car,” she said as he got in beside her.

He flashed her a smile. “I quite like it too.”

“It might have been better if you’d got someone to drop us off at the airport so they could take the car back,” she suggested. “I wouldn’t risk leaving a car like this parked at the airport.”

ʺI’m not. I’ve left a spare set of keys with my chauffeur. He’ll pick it up later this morning then drive it home for me. It didn’t seem fair to drag him out of bed this early.”

He’s a nice guy, Kendall thought, kind and considerate yet rich and successful. In her experience, the qualities didnʹt always mix.

As they drove along, she was acutely aware of his presence beside her, of his strong hands holding the wheel casually but firmly, of his left hand reaching down to change gears effortlessly and smoothly, just a few centimetres from her knee.

“How long did you teach in Thailand?” he asked her. “I spent a bit of time over there myself a couple of years ago. It’s a beautiful country.”

“I was there for a year.” She was glad of the diversion. “I taught in a school in Chiang Mai.”

For the rest of the journey they spoke about Thailand and some of the other countries they had both visited, and she realised that he was actually very easy to talk to with a good sense of humour. She was almost sorry when they arrived at the airport; she’d enjoyed his company so much.

Careful, she told herself. I bet he’s as charming as this with all the women he meets. She knew he had a reputation for collecting beautiful girlfriends — Tanya had hinted as much at the engagement party. He was the eternal bachelor. Well, she was the eternal bachelor girl, wasn’t she? She could handle Jake Newman, even if he did make her go all goose-bumpy

Buy Never Say Forever via these links

Amazon US

Amazon UK

Read more about Kay Harborne and Karen King at:

Links

Website: http://www.karenking.net/

Twitter: @karen_king

Amazon Author Page: http://www.amazon.com/Kay-Harborne/e/B00D5VD6LG/ref=sr_ntt_srch_lnk_2?qid=1373543640&sr=8-2

A Little Romance

As well as writing children's books, I am quite partial to writing a nice romance every now and then. In fact when I first started writing 30 odd years ago, it was romances that I particularly wanted to write. At the time I joined The Romantic Novelists Association (RNA) as a probationer, and went along to a couple of their events.

There was a weekend in Bournmouth where I heard author Mary Wibberley, talk and recall being absolutely awe inspired by her. I bought her guide on writing romance, To Writers with Love which she signed for me.

I was saddened to learn that she passed away in December last year. She'd written almost 50 books for Mills & Boon, the first being Black Niall in 1973.

When my writing went in the direction of children's books and non fiction, romance got put on the back burner for some 20 years. Then a couple of years ago, I caught the romance-writing bug again and finally got two romances published as floppies with My Weekly and People's Friend – and then in large print and ebooks.

This all rekindled my interest in writing romance, and I re-joined the RNA, this time as a full member. Good friend and fellow author Karen King – who writes romance under the name of Kay Harborne joined at the same time, and in July this year we went along to their annual conference, which was superb.

It was held at the Harper Adams University, Telford and for the three days we were treated to a packed programme of talks and workshops by top romance authors, publishers, editors, agents and other professionals. At each period there was always a choice of three different session to attend, so you were just spoilt for choice as to who you were going to be inspired by next!

Gala Dinner starter!

Food and drink was wonderful – it was good to see they recognised the fact that writers like to eat and drink! There was a free drinks party before dinner on the first night - courtesy of Independent Publishing at Amazon. And they again provided lots of free wine the following night before the gala dinner.

Author Pamela Hartshorne gave a fascinating talk.

There was also an opportunity to have a one-to-one with editors and agents, which you pre-booked and submitted some work beforehand that you wanted feedback or comments from. 

All these slots were quickly nabbed, and I think everyone there really appreciated the opportunity of talking about their latest masterpiece with a possible publisher, or agent.

A little pre-dinner drink with Karen King.

Everybody was networking, exchanging emails, phone numbers and business cards. And a few new friendships sprang up too, no doubt.

It was just such a great three days – and if the RNA is an organisation that you think would interest you, then I'd recommend you take a look and see what they have to offer. As well as conferences and get togethers, they have annual awards and lots of other activities going on.

Samantha Clarke talks about A History of Caludon Castle.

I'm extending a warm welcome to Samantha Clarke on my blog today. As well as being the assistant editor on the fascinating academically researched non-fiction book, A History of Caludon Castle – The Lords of the Manor of Caludon she's also a friend and colleague from the good old days of working at the Coventry Telegraph.

Before chatting about the book I asked Sam about her career in journalism and whether it had always been her ambition to go into this line of work. Here's what she said:

“I wanted to be a journalist from a very early age. My father was a journalist and he'd tell me all these exciting tales. I also developed an interest in local news very early on. I remember a careers talk at school when I was about 11 or 12 and the careers advisor asked all of us if we knew what we wanted to do. When I told her I wanted to be a journalist I remember she said: 'What's your name? I'll look out for you in the Coventry Telegraph in 15 years time.' I started there 12 years later. I always wondered whether she did remember my name and look for my by-line.”

Sam worked on the Coventry Telegraph for many years, in fact we sat two desks apart! I asked her about the best and worst parts of working there. 

“I could highlight so many 'best parts' I started at the Telegraph at the age of 24, having previously trained at the Rugby Observer for four years, working my way up to Deputy Editor. I'm very much a people person and I believe there is no better profession to get the opportunity to mix with people from all walks of life. I really enjoyed 'people' stories and have met such inspiring individuals along the way.

"Over 12 years on newspapers I covered everything from local fairs to murders and sudden deaths among children. It sounds morbid but the tragic stories were always my favourites as without exception, despite prior nerves when door-knocking, I always received good vibes from people and in a lot of cases the families would thank me for listening. I almost felt like I'd helped them to open up and share their grief. I received a lot of thank you letters along the way and have kept all of them to this day.

“Also I would argue that I worked in newspapers during the glory years. I have made some excellent friends for life along the way. Perhaps contrary to common belief journalists are a great bunch of people and I had the privilege of working with some really talented, inspiring individuals. I still see them now, almost seven years after leaving the newspaper.”

As for the worst parts, Sam said, “The worst part - especially when I worked on the Rugby Observer, which was a weekly newspaper, would be following a good story over a few days

and preparing it for the following week's newspaper, only to have certain developments kill the story before it gets into the press. That was so frustrating!”

Talking about A History of Caludon Castle, Sam said, “It is actually my father's book and had been in the pipeline for many years. It was during his time as a pupil at Caludon Castle School where

he became fascinated with this mysterious ruin. Both my father and I grew up in the same house in the shadows of the castle. He had played in Caludon Park as a young boy and both he and my grandfather Jack very often took me there when I was a little girl. As I grew older I too became fascinated by it but until now little was known about its history as it wasn't very well documented.

“I became involved in the book by accident. About three years ago, having watched the book slowly all come together and hearing my Dad speak of the latest findings, I asked if I could read it. Perhaps due to my background in journalism I found myself proof-reading, rather than reading the book. As I got more into the proof-reading I found it an extremely enjoyable experience and a real learning curve. I haven't read it since it's been published but I am looking forward to reading it as a

reader, as opposed to a proof-reader.”

I suggested to Sam that it must have taken an awful lot of research. She explained, “The book was researched by two professional historians – George Demidowicz and Stephen Johnson. George had been the Building Conservation Officer for Coventry City Council for over two decades and

was also the head of the Conservation and Archaeology Team. Prior to his involvement in the book George had also been involved in repairs of Caludon's ruins. Stephen had previously been the Administrator of the Manorial Society for Great Britain before becoming an independent historical researcher in 2001.

“The book received some great support from the Lord Clifford of Chudleigh, whose ancestors lived at the castle. While the book was being put together my father, along with George and Stephen, made a number of visits to Lord Clifford's home - Ugbrooke Park in Devon - where they were allowed access to historical documents relating to Caludon and dating back to the 1220s. These were invaluable and took the book to a whole, exciting new level. I'm not sure how long George and Stephen worked on the book but I first met them both back in about 2008 and it was already well underway then.It has been a real labour of love on all sides.”

Sam reported that the team behind the publication of the book have been pleasantly surprised by the way it's been received. “We have received an excellent response to the book - with demand far

higher than we had expected. We thought orders would come primarily from residents who had grown up in the vicinity of Caludon Park but we've taken orders from all over - including one from New Zealand! The press showed great interest too with a fantastic feature in the Coventry

Telegraph and a great review in the Birmingham Post. We have been delighted with the response.”

“I had never edited a book before. It was a real learning curve for me and a fantastic experience. I went on to create the index as well which from memory was 2,000 words alone. This was painstaking but again a great experience which has given me another string to my bow. Since undertaking the Caludon project I have found a new skill which I love. I've since joined the SfEP as an Associate Member and am looking to train as a proof reader / editor. It's very early days but I can't wait to see what this new chapter may hold.

Read more by following this link:

http://www.coventrytelegraph.net/news/coventry-news/story-coventrys-calu
don-castle-told-6862913

A History of Caludon Castle - The Lords of the Manor of Caludon.

The book is academically researched and is the only book solely dedicated to Caludon and its manor and traces the history from the 1200s through to the present day.

It contains 220 pages, with 76,000 words and 110 illustrations, with references to Caludon's links with royalty and William Shakespeare.

The book marks the fulfilment of John Clarke's lifelong ambition which sought to unravel the 800 year-old history of the castle.

The book received sponsorship from Shortland Horne Residential Ltd.

Publisher John Edward Clarke OBE

Author and Editor George Demidowicz

Co-author Stephen Johnson

Assistant Editor Samantha Clarke

To purchase the book, or for more details contact Century PR on 024 7622 8881.  

Welcome Nata Romeo and her début picture book, Alphabet Wildlife A to Z

Today I'm welcoming author, illustrator, blogger, and freelance writer, Nata Romeo. Nata is talking about her début picture book, Alphabet Wildlife A to Z which she has written, illustrated and published herself.

Nata is originally from Toronto, Canada, has lived in Italy for a while then graduated school from the Art Institute and ended up in Philadelphia, PA. She's the proud mother of three children whose ages range, 28, 25 and 8. She works full time as a special needs classroom assistant for the School District of Philadelphia.

She says that creativity and inspiration derive from her kids, and also being among hundreds of elementary students on a daily basis.

Talking about the inspiration behind creating this book, Nata says that she has always wanted to be a writer and illustrator for as long as she could remember.  “I love the power of creativity," she says. "The Sketchbook Project 2014, part of the Brooklyn Art Library inspired me to write and illustrate this book. This is my third year participating with them. The original drawings are in that sketchbook, which is housed in their library. I always wanted to write an alphabet book!”

Amazingly, when she fractured her dominant hand earlier this year, she became aware that she was ambidextrous and never knew it! She says, “Now I can alternate between the two and have two unique styles of drawings. Actually, the Lion book art was illustrated with lefty, while the animals in the book were illustrated with righty. So yeah, no matter what life throws your way, pick yourself up and find a way to continue what you love to do!”

Asked why she decided to self-publish her first book with CreateSpace, she explained, “The beauty of self-publishing with CreateSpace is that you can easily edit your book. I wanted to have the freedom to make all the decisions on how the book looks. I have to admit that it was very stressing along the way. The formatting was always off! Fortunately, my son the computer genius always comes to my rescue and saves me from self-destruction! Ha Ha!”

Nata is currently revising another children’s book about Moon Trees, and illustrating it as well. She says her favourite illustration medium is combining watercolour, and pen and ink. “I love having the freedom of colours blending into other colours, creating unique effects. Detailed pen and ink is a form of de-stressing!”

She has this advice for writers /illustrators. “Read, read, read, what you want to write. Learn to storyboard/dummies to see if your story flows. Join SCBWI, go to workshops, and join critique groups. Not only will your writing improve, but you will meet other talented writers and illustrators that also share your passion.

“Also, if you decide to self-publish, please avoid making the mistake I did! After my book was approved by CreateSpace and up for sale, someone I look up to and admire messaged me and pointed out that there was a typo! I thanked her soooooooo much! I immediately fixed the BOO BOO!”

Blurb - Alphabet Wildlife A to Z invites young readers into an enchanting world of animals.

Paperback: 32 pages

ISBN-10: 1496172175

ISBN-13: 978-1496172174

The book is available in print and kindle format.

Purchase from:

Amazon

CreateSpace e Store

Find out more at her website: www.nataromeo.com

Email: childrensbook13@aol.com

Or via social media:

Facebook

Twitter

Google +

Linkedin

You tube

Goodreads

EBSQART

Amazon

And please visit my website at: www.annevansbooks.co.uk

Welcome author Ariella Moon talking about her latest YA novel, Spell Struck.

Over the next few months I'll be bringing you some different authors and their new releases here on my blog. Today I'm delighted to welcome Ariella Moon who is talking about her latest YA book, SPELL STRUCK – Book 2 of THE TEEN WYTCHE SAGA.

Ariella Moon is the author of the Teen Wytche Saga, a sweet Young Adult paranormal series. Ariella writes about magic, friendship, high school, secrets, and love in Spell Check, Spell Struck, and Spell Fire from Astraea Press.

Ariella spent her childhood searching for a magical wardrobe that would transport her to Narnia. Extreme maths anxiety, and taller students who mistook her for a leaning post, marred her youth. Despite these horrors, she graduated summa cum laude from the University of California at Davis. Ariella is a Reiki Master, author, and shaman. She lives a nearly normal life with her extraordinary daughter, two shamelessly spoiled dogs, and an enormous dragon.

SPELL STRUCK BLURB

When goth outcast Salem Miller casts a love spell on Halloween night, she asks for a boy who is handsome, magical, and artistic. She doesn’t count on Fate sending Aidan Cooper.

As a child, Aidan thought he was being rescued, not abducted. Now fifteen and homeless, he realizes he was taken because of his Gypsy blood. His kidnappers believe he’ll lead them to the Grey Grimoire, a valuable gypsy spell book. Madness. The book doesn’t even exist.

Or does it?

Salem is charged with fixing a half-destroyed spell book, her last hope for saving her sister. Amy attempted suicide and the meds aren’t helping. Maybe a powerful Get Well Spell will cure her.

Aidan’s kidnappers will kill to attain the Grey Grimoire. But if he destroys it, Salem will hate him. Either way, he loses. Again.

EXCERPT FROM SPELL STRUCK

Aidan lowered his hand. His finger pressed against my skin, shooting a delicious tingle up my arm. When I didn’t move away, he hooked his finger over mine. My breath caught. We stayed, frozen, hyper-focused, for what seemed like three lifetimes. Then Aidan trailed his fingertips across the back of my hand. The soundtrack, popcorn smells, and theater audience melted into the background. The world narrowed down to the unspoken grief and need entangled in Aidan’s touch.

I rotated my hand so my palm faced upward. Aidan hesitated. Our gazes locked in the flickering light. The spell link humming between us lit up like blue lightning. At least I think it was the spell link. Aidan plunged his fingers between mine. Our palms pressed together, igniting a current. Air shuddered from my lungs. Magic rippled from us in successive waves.

My heart stuttered. My breath ceased. Every cell within me vibrated. Troops of fairies or dragonflies took flight in my lower abdomen. It’s possible blue lightning shot from my boots.

Good thing I wasn’t holding the popcorn.

Spell Struck Video

https://www.youtube.com/Spell Struck Book Trailer

What if the one person who saw through your lies and loved you anyway, harbored a secret that could cost you everything?

You can buy Ariella Moon's SPELL STRUCK via:

Amazon

Amazon.co.uk

Barnes & Noble

iTunes

Kobo

Ariella loves to hear from her readers. You can reach her at:

Ariella's website

Ariella's Blog

Facebook

Ariella's Goodreads Page

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And please visit my website: www.annevansbooks.co.uk

Welcome to author Karen King

Today I'm delighted to welcome my good friend, author Karen King to my blog.

Living only about 25 miles away from each other, we often go to writing events together, and we run a double whammy schools Author Visit project which we call KAT. This stands for Kids and Authors Together. It also, incidentally, stands for Karen and Ann Together!

Karen has had around a hundred and twenty children’s books published. She’s also written for many children's magazines including Jackie, Sindy, Barbie, Winnie the Pooh and Thomas the Tank Engine. She writes for all ages and in all genres; story books, picture books, plays, joke books and non-fiction. As well as her children's books, she has written some short stories for women’s magazines and has had two romance novels published under the name of Kay Harborne.

There's so much to say about Karen. She has a BA with the Open University, a Certificate In Education, a HNC in Media and many years of experience as a writing tutor. She was a part time lecturer on the MA in Professional Writing course and the BA Illustration course at the University College, Falmouth for many years, where she also ran Summer Schools on writing for the children's market.

She has tutored online for the TrAce Online Writing School, and via correspondence for the Open College of Arts. She now tutors creative writing for Worcestershire County Council, the Writer's Bureau and the London School of Journalism. Her latest accreditation is Patron of Reading in her home town of Worcester. She also offers private writing tuition and a manuscript appraisal service. Details are on her website.

With so much experience in writing under her belt it's not surprising that one of her latest books is her extremely useful - Get Writing: Children's Fiction. The perfect handbook to help you break into writing for children.

Cover blurb

The aim of this book is to get you writing. It's full of inspiration, tips and writing exercises for anyone who wants to write children's fiction. Included are tips from other published writers, useful links and answers to questions you've always wanted to ask.  

Get Writing: Children's Fiction includes chapters on:

Know-how: the difference between writing for children and writing for adults.
How to get ideas for your stories from your family, your work and your life - and how to expand those ideas.
Creating believable characters children will love reading about.
Writing by the seat of your pants, or plotting? Basic things you need to know for either approach.
Writing realistic dialogue.
Writing the first draft
How to create 'reel them in' beginnings, sustain the pace in the middle, and write satisfying endings.
How to write page-turning chapter endings; keeping continuity when writing series.
Writing for the educational market.
Writing a synopsis and a proposal.
Submitting your work to a publisher or agent.
Dealing with rejects and rewrites.
Publicity and marketing.
Publishing your own work.

Get Writing: Children’s Fiction

Is your head full of children's stories?

Will they make a book?

Karen King's, Get Writing: Children’s Fiction, is out now to help you break into writing for children.

Buy Links

Amazon

Waterstones
Barnes and Noble

The Book Depository

Author Links

Website: www.karenking.net

Author Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/?ref=tn_tnmn&__adt=7&__att=iframe#!/KarenKingAuthor

Amazon Author Page: http://www.amazon.co.uk/Karen-King/e/B0034P6W7I/ref=ntt_dp_epwbk_0

Good Reads page: http://www.goodreads.com/author/show/74448.Karen_King

Thank you, Karen.

Please visit my website: www.annevansbooks.co.uk

Welcome L.E.Fred and her début YA novel Lucid.

Over the next few months I'll be bringing you some different authors and their new releases here on my blog. Today I'm delighted to welcome L.E.Fred who is talking about her début YA novel, LUCID.

L. E. Fred is a perpetual dreamer who writes about worlds both within and without this realm. With a degree in psychology, she tends to get lost in the mind, the greatest adventure of all. L. E. Fred is currently travelling the world, finding more adventures to inspire new tales of dreams and beyond.

EXTRACT FROM LUCID

I know that most adventure/fantasy/whatever you would like to call these-stories, start with something magical, but my story starts with something ordinary, dreams. I’m talking about the “I’m taking a test and don’t realize I’m in my underwear” kind of dreams. We have them every night, whether we remember them or not. Sometimes they leave us waking up with excitement or inspiration. Sometimes they cause us to wake with a shriek and to look around our rooms. Sometimes they leave us waking up confused or ashamed. These experiences are probably commonplace for most people, but I doubt any of you could ever say your dreams caused you to stay asleep for a long period of time.

What if your dreams made you disappear?

LUCID sounds intriguing, so I put a few questions to the author:

Q: What inspired the creation of Lucid?

A: I started writing Lucid after experiencing my first lucid dream. It’s a very out-of-body and surreal experience. We’re used to dreaming every night, but being able to control your actions and fate in the dream world is almost a magical thing. After figuring out how to wake up (yes, you have to oftentimes find your way out of the dreams,) I started pondering the idea of a dream world actually existing, and before I knew it, I had Devon and the plot for Lucid.

Q: You write from the P.O.V. of a 15 year-old boy. Is there anyone who shaped Devon’s character as the protagonist.

A: A wonderful counsellor-in-training that I worked with actually inspired Devon’s character. Real-life Devon, who shall be nameless, was one of those campers that turned into a CIT when he outgrew the camp’s age groups. I never went to summer camp as a child, so working at one was a very interesting experience. I got to witness real-life Devon change from being a happy-go-lucky camper to a miserable CIT. As for Devon’s personality, that was shaped by my own sense of humour. I wrote Lucid through Devon’s eyes, and my own commentary sort of slipped through. It fit his sarcastic nature, though, and rereading some parts still makes me laugh.

Q: What about the villains? How did they come to be?

A: Ever since I can remember, I’ve been fascinated by mythological monsters. There seems to be a common thread of villainous snakes and lions. A chimera combines these two deadly creatures, along with a goat, into one evil creature. I liked the idea of having three diverse villains; the more you get to know a villain, the scarier they can become for the reader and the heroes. As I wrote, Serpentine, Gruff, and Leona, seemed to appear out of nowhere to fit the evil villain’s roles. The Nightmares were a little trickier. I thought long and hard about how they should be portrayed, and I eventually started combining features of animals and creatures that people feared the most into one character. That’s why they have shark teeth and devil horns.

Q: Lucid is your first novel. Are you currently working on anything else?

A: Since Devon and his friends’ story didn’t want to finish at the end of Lucid, I’m currently working on the sequel. The story will continue our heroes’ adventure, but you’ll get to hear from other characters in it. It will also have much more of a fantasy element with an even crazier cast of characters. Aside from Lucid, I’m working on two more stories, both in the YA fiction genre.

Q: What inspired you to write YA fiction?

A: I’m a teacher, so I love working with young adults and teens. I’ve seen the power of books transform kids’ ways of thinking about the world and boost confidence. Never underestimate the power of reading. I know it played an important role in shaping my future, and I hope to reach out to as many young adults to inspire them to find their inner heroes and go change the world for the better.

Five fun facts about the Lucid crew.

• Devon’s favourite thing about the Dream World is the pink grass.
• Kyle is deathly afraid of insects. Devon hinted that his older brother screams like a small child when they find roaches in their houses.
• Mitch, despite his love for water sports, is afraid of open water. He saw JAWS one too many times to trust the murky deep.
• Viv fights with Elis frequently, but she is secretly jealous of his sword skills.
• Iven researched the history of human music (with the help of Sophia.) His favorite tunes come from 15th century Gregorian chants and 1980s pop.

Discover more about L.E.Fred and LUCID at these links:

Facebook: http://facebook.com/only.but.a.dream
Blog: http://marsjaws.blogspot.com
Goodreads: http://goodreads.com/marsjaws

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And please visit my website: www.annevansbooks.co.uk