I’m super excited to share the Dino Knights publishes today from Scallywag Press, with incredible illustrations by artist Jeff Crosby.
You can buy the book in bookshops or online Amazon, Waterstones, Hive and the new Bookshop.org initiative that links your purchase to your local indie bookshop.
This novel has been a long time coming. You see, the idea for DINO KNIGHTS came to me in the middle of the night. Literally.
For some authors, they might dream up an idea or lay awake in bed turning over ideas for stories or characters. Not me, I was barely awake, in the playroom of my house with my very awake two-year-old boy, Torin. He wasn’t sleeping well and I guess since it about 3 am, he figured it was time to party.
Who needs sleep, right?
We got the toys out and started playing. Out came the toy trains. The Lego. And the plastic dinosaurs.
And then, he placed one of his brother’s plastic knights on top of a T-Rex and I had my Eureka moment. Knights on dinosaurs!
I drew a crude picture of a ‘dino knight’ and started working up the idea of medieval times where dinosaurs never went extinct. I created the character of Henry, a lowly stable-boy who spends his days mucking out dinosaur pens, yearning for more adventure. And I created the mythology of the Dino Knights, an elite team of young people who serve as a combination of sentries, guardians, and spies for the realm of Brecklan (named after my primary school, W.E. Breckon).
I decided to name the leader of the knights Torin, after my son. Two of the others are named after my nieces, Iyla and Ellie (they became Isla and Espeth in the book).
People often ask me where my ideas come from. And for me, the truth is that they can come from anywhere, even playing with plastic toys in the middle of the night.
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