Zanzibar Rising

We’re nearly there. After much editing, proof-reading, cover design and publicity work Worm Winds of Zanzibar is ready for its public and within a very short time will be out there, available for pre-order. This represents the end point of a really interesting journey, one that would not have been possible were it not for the help, encouragement and enthusiastic support of those at Provoco Publishing, particularly Jane Murray. The story has been in my head for a long time, ever since the completion of ‘A Moment in Time’, when I realised that I really wasn’t ready to give up and say goodbye to the cast of characters I had created. I think there is a sense in which characters take shape on their own, given time and encouragement. They tapped me on the shoulder and said, “hey, we’re not done yet!” I realised that Alex Trueman had a future in front of him, one that will face him with many more challenges and adventures, ones that would enable him to discover his own potential and pursue his ultimate destiny. Worm Winds of Zanzibar is the vehicle in which Alex begins to grope his way towards an understanding of this destiny.

When we create stories we require characters and a narrative but we also need a context, a stage, , on which our characters may enact their drama

. ‘A Moment in Time’ took Alex from his life in an ordinary school and placed him in the strange world of ‘Intersticia’ although its outward appearance continued to resemble Alex’s familiar local environment. With Worm Winds of Zanzibar we travel to a very different world, to an East Africa that is geographically similar to our own world but one that is of a different reality. Accordingly, history has proceeded along slightly different lines there, and Alex arrives unexpectedly in a world filled with interest and exotic glamour but one that presents increasingly deadly challenges as time moves on. I hope readers will enjoy the gathering pace of Alex’s development as he explores his extraordinary potential in this and future books.