Authors Electric

Twenty years ago, I wrote a rather long novel about Alexander the Great from the point of view of his famous warhorse Bucephalus. At the time, I had a brilliant children's publisher (Chicken House) keen to publish my book in hardcover for the 10+ market who already enjoyed my fantasy novels. Unfortunately, bookshops did not share the same view and rejected the hardcover, so publication was delayed while a more suitable format was found for the book that would please everyone - which, as everyone knows, is impossible. In the end, "I am the Great Horse" (edited down from its original 200,000 words to a modest 150,000) enjoyed its scheduled hardcover publication in the US with Chicken House's partner Scholastic, and hit the UK shelves a year later than planned in paperback. Having missed its publicity slot over here, it sold averagely. Or perhaps my novel, being rather long, historical and written by a horse , was just too quirky for the children's market? Anyway, t...

A new exhibition starts today at the British Library:  Alexander the Great: the Making of a Myth . From now until 19th February 2023, you can explore the blurred lines between history and myth to discover how the young prince of Macedonia, who tamed a horse grown men were afraid to ride, became known across the ancient world as 'Great' Alexander. I'm delighted that my novel straight from that untamed horse's mouth -  I am the Great Horse (Chicken House, 2007) - is included as one of the exhibits. This book re-tells history through the eyes of Alexander the Great's faithful horse Bucephalas, aiming to be true to the known facts about his life while incorporating some of the myths that grew up around his name, such as his encounter with the legendary Amazon queen. Although published originally for a young audience on the Chicken House/Scholastic list, this novel has since found a readership across all generations of horse and history fans and is now available in both ...

Mythic and Magical by Katherine Roberts 'On my one-hundredth birthday my father made me a present of a mortal man…’   So we’re told by Kryssa, the heroine of ‘ Rubies’ , one of the stories collected in Katherine Roberts' Mythic and Magical. ‘Rubies ’ reminded me of Bradbury’s tales of supernatural families, not only in its subject, but in its sensuality: ‘Her hair, black as mine, glittered with diamonds that outshone the early stars…’   And later, as Kryssa, her hair threaded with rubies, looks at her reflection in a lake: ‘Yes, I could see myself. Or…I could see moon-pale flesh shimmering with gold, and the pinpricks of red stars surrounding me: Grandpa’s rubies blurred with the millions of worlds above…’             ‘Rubies’ is romantic, lush, Gothic, and its theme, like the other stories, is that of rebelling against the rules your society insists you live by. And, in these stories, at least, the rebels most...