MY 1st & 2nd BOOK - THE FIRST IN THE ORACLE IN THE MIST SERIES SUITABLE FOR ALL AGES

"Imagine a world where there are no lessons, no classrooms and no teachers and yet you still learn, have amazing adventures and get to hang out with your friends - welcome to the world of home education. Meet Bobby and David, a couple of ordinary kids accidentally thrown together, and join them as they time travel to new and distant lands, battle evil on an epic scale and change from being home schoolers to world schoolers."

I write children's books and have had emails from viewers/readers of this blog asking me to talk about my books. I generally use my facebook page for information about my books, which is open to the public, but I am happy to put the occassional thing here as well. People are curious about the next book in the series; what's going to happen to Bobby and David. One lady - God bless her - even commented that she's concerned for my book characters, are they going to be alright in their fight against the Oracle? Are they going to end up together? I know just how she feels because I get very involved with book/film characters too and some nights before I fall to sleep I think about them eg: Elizabeth Bennett and Mr Darcy or Mr and Mrs Tolstoy and I wonder at the love that was between them and what their lives were really like together (in my imagination book characters are living and breathing people even if the story is fiction).

The truth is I have a general idea of where the story is headed (I absolutely know what is going to take place between Bobby and David but I can't tell you because that would ruin the surprise) but my books are written scene by scene; I have a vision in my imagination of what is about to happen but then I have the burdensome task of trying to translate it into words (I really struggle with this aspect of writing) which is quite tiring so some days I only write for three hours and I become quite mentally exhausted. I then go out into the world or read or watch movies and I consider this to be research - more fodder for my stories.

This is what we have so far for the cover.

This is the finished product as at 23rd October, 2012

I have finished the 2nd book which is called The Blue Seal of Trinity Cove and it will be released early 2013. If you want information about the story I will give you a few clues but first you have to become a member on my blog; I would love to hear from you and have your feedback and perhaps you could leave me a comment or ask a question? I would be more than happy to respond. I am up to chapter 13 in the 3rd book and it has just begun to get exciting in a different kind of way - it is written from the point of view of a giant wolf who is about to go up against the orcs to rescue Bobby and the professor (David, Ranku and Tinka can't do the rescuing because they have all disappeared from Bobby's life and are fighting battles of their own.)

I have many students reading my book who have bought signed copies from me personally on author talks - perhaps they are the ones that are viewing this blog. If so, I am going to ask you some questions and I would really like you to think about the answers (remember that all art is open to interpretation so there are, technically, no wrong answers.) Perhaps, if I have a great enough response, I will put together some kind of competition which will have an amazing prize eg: would you like to go out for dinner with me and ask every single question personally or maybe you would like me to look at the book you are writing. I would be happy to do that.

1) What kind of house do you picture Bobby living in at Queensborough?

2) Why couldn't Bobby find her voice to answer David when they first met?

3) How is Bobby's background so different to David's and do you think that could create problems for them?

3a) Who was the elemental creature that served the children in the shop? Was he somehow connected to the fairies at the beginning of the story? Do you believe in fairies and elementals?

4) Why was Bobby so upset with David about the homeless person? What do you think about homelessness?

5) Could you draw a picture of what the tree would look like when the children are time travelling from it? I would love to see your work - perhaps you could send it to me.

5a) Do you think the island is the Garden of Eden that the bible talks about (do you know this story?) Could you draw the island for me.

6) The children discover that another type of relationship exists between them, what is it?

7) How are Henry and Ina related to Bobby and David?

8) What became of Henry and Ina once they got back from the island? Why does the town cover up the whole story?

9) What evil exists for the island that the children find out about?

10) What do you think will become of the children in the next book? Can you imagine what it will be about?

I would love to see your answers and your drawings; if you contact me I will give you a postal address. Perhaps there will be another book at the end of the series with all of the answers and drawings I have collected.

I have found some images over the years that quite accurately depict the characters and scenes of my book but unfortunately I wasn't able to use them in the book. Here are some of them: