I just thought I’d write and tell you that the first book of the brand new The Six Crowns series is in the stores now. It actually came out on the 1st of April - no fooling!colour-sl1-trundle-and-esmeralda2

The series is fantasy again (I do like fantasy, I don’t care what anyone says…) - but it is quite different to The Faerie Path and Warrior Princess. For a start, all the characters are talking animals - and the hero and heroine are hedgehogs - and here is a picture of them, drawn and coloured by the amazing Gary Chalk. The one sitting on top is Esmeralda Lightfoot, she’s a Roamany and she has strange magic powers. The one flat on his back is Trundle Boldoak, a quiet, home-loving kind of guy who gets ripped out of his simple, straightforward life by Esmeralda and sent off on wild and dangerous adventures.

The series is aimed for a younger age group than the Faerie Path - kind of from 8 to 12 - but older people than that have read the first book and they’ve told me it’s a lot of fun - which is great, because that’s exactly what it’s meant to be. So,even if you think you’re too old for these books, maybe you could buy one for a younger brother or sister or cousin or friend - and then sneakily read it yourself before handing it over.

There is a dedicated website for the series. You can find it at www.thesixcrowns.com - and Gary Chalk and I will be running competitions regularly with signed books as prizes, and also with framed and signed copies of some of Gary’s coloured artwork - like the picture here. Please take a few minutes to look at the site - I’d love to know what you think, whether you’re 8 years old or 68 years old!