It’s back to the Dragon’s Den

When we spoke to Susan in 2008 her first book in the Lothian Dragons series, Scordril, had just been published and now one year on we catch up with her again on the launch of the second book in the series which leads on from the first story. Scordril, a tale of two children whose summer holiday camping trip turns into a real adventure when they come face to face with a powerful and fiery dragon. Farlkris has also been co-written with another local writer under the name ‘Kelsey Drake’ and is out in all good book shops now.

Susan has been kept very busy with the launch of her second book and has continued to work hard through periods of ill health which truly is an inspiration. Luckily for us she took some time out to answer a couple of our questions and update us on her latest release….

CNN: Susan, did you begin writing Farlkris as soon as Scordril was published?

SB:  Farlkris was actually written in five months, before Scordril. That initial version of Farlkris was where the Lothian Dragons concept really began and was written to submit to The Kelpies Prize 2005 for a children’s book set in Scotland. Farlkris was joint runner up, I got to attend a small event at the Edinburgh Book Festival, and Scordril was well underway. But, because Scordril was set in 1950, and Farlkris is contemporary it made more sense to publish the books in chronological order. Coming back to Farlkris with the experience of writing another book was good; it was apparent where the story needed a little more editing, or the pace needed to pick up. That meant another six months of revising Farlkris until it became the book you see now.

CNN:  So can you tell us a little bit of the story line?

SB:  Farlkris is set in present day Musselburgh, Scotland and brings the Lothian Dragons story up to date. When the new boy at school turns out to be Farlkris a dragon in disguise, Hannah, the girl he's paired with as his 'buddy' finds herself in the middle of a desperate race against time to discover and eliminate the source of a poisonous chemical seeping into the sewers, threatening both dragons and humans. Their search leads them into conflict with dragons and humans alike, and into the path of the ruthless man responsible. Any hope of success will require hard choices and a lot of courage!

CNN: That sounds really great! What sort of age group did you have in mind when writing Farlkris?

SB: The books were written for boys and girls aged 8-12 years. However, anyone of any age who especially likes a blend of fantasy and reality, or dragons may like them, too. Older children and adults have certainly been reading the books, too, and saying how much they enjoyed them.

CNN: Was it more straightforward publishing your second novel?

SB: Publishing is never straightforward, but second time round you at least know what to expect, and that makes it a little easier I suppose. The publisher hasn’t changed and that helps, too.

CNN: Some of our readers may be new to the Lothian Dragons series. Would you recommend they read Scordril before moving on to Farlkris?

SB: Both books are stand alone stories in their own right. If you read both you will get a bigger picture of the Lothian Dragons. There is some continuity because certain dragons appear in both books: giving nothing away Scordril, the main dragon-character in the first book, is still important in the second but a new dragon, Farlkris is the ‘lead’.  Personally, I think Farlkris makes a good sequel to Scordril if you have read that first, and Scordril fills in some of the history if you read it after Farlkris.

CNN: Have you enjoyed any new or different experiences on publishing your second novel?

SB:  One new experience I’ve thoroughly enjoyed is having more opportunities at various events to talk about the book to readers, and having people ask questions about them and my writing in general. It’s also fun to hear people talking about ‘Kelsey’ when they don’t realise it is you.

CNN: Do we have any more Lothian Dragons books to look forward to?

SB: Ask me after I’ve finished promoting Farlkris! I can’t really comment, as the stories are co-authored, but suffice to say there are plenty of subplots or dragon-characters to develop, I’m sure.

CNN: So what’s next for you now then?

SB:  Two books almost back to back and I will certainly need a rest… My MS hasn’t been good this year, some things are becoming more difficult for me, especially the length of time I can look at a computer screen, and the whole writing process has had to slow down. That doesn’t mean that I’ll be stopping, I won’t. I’m currently working on an idea for another novel, now, so writing will definitely keep me busy.

It was great to catch up with Susan and to hear how things have progressed in her writing career. It looks like we’ll have to keep an eye out for Susan’s next offering but in the mean time we wish her all the best for her promotion of Farlkris.

If you are interested in buying both Scordril (publisher: Matador, Sept 2008,
ISBN: 9781906510817) and Farlkris (publisher: Matador, Nov 2009 ISBN: 9781848762640) you can do so either on line at www.lothiandragons.co.uk which also gives links through to stockists and Susan reliably informs me that Farlkris is available to order from ‘all good bookstores’.