Tall Tales - Hermes Stilt

Hermes Stilt enjoyed about nine years of happiness and normality, when he was a child. Back then he was known as Hermes Steed and was surrounded by a loving family. However the world decided he was just perfectly suited for tragedy.

His family accidentally came into the path of a monstrous Demon. Whilst it's uncertain as to whether Hermes genuinely can't remember much from that day, or he simply blocked out the trauma – three things are certain. The Demon killed all of Hermes' family. It tore off his legs. And it escaped.

Eventually some Government people came across the gruesome scene. Hermes pleaded with the Government to make them understand what happened, but this is the Age of Technology. As much as the Government knows there's a lot of unexplained and magical things still in the world, they're the first to deny such things. So rather than believe a terrified boy's story about a Demon, they decided he must be a cold and calculating killer, and charged him with the murder of his family – also sentencing him to death.

Thankfully the Government isn't all bad, and Sir Butchery, one of the President's personal bodyguards, took pity on Hermes and helped him to escape. He brought him to Dr. Fayetteville, an old retired pirate. He believed Hermes' story and built him his mechanical wooden legs. He also agreed to teach the boy to fight and for the next fifteen years, was his personal trainer. The training olny came to an end when Dr. Fayetteville died of a terminal illness. On his death-bed he told Hermes how to find Pyrus, the original pirate, the person he'd have to seek if he wanted to become a Pirate Captain. He revealed to him that Pyrus was an ancient creature – and certainly not to be trusted. He was once a powerful monster, but he was stripped of his power and imprisoned. He was also the best source of information on the Demon.

So Hermes sought out Pyrus and was declared a Pirate Captain. At the same time he dropped the name Steed in place of Stilt, thinking it was a stupid name for someone with no real legs. He also asked Pyrus about his Demon and the two came to an agreement. Whenever Stilt found some item or relic that brought Pyrus a step closer to being free or returning to his old form, he'd offer Stilt a hint about his Demon.

By tradition, Stilt was accompanied on his travels by a long-dead Pirate Captain's ghost, who could offer advice. This was how Stilt came to befriend Captain Jacob Daniels. It was also on this day that he met fellow Pirate Captain, Laura Emmultine. Needless to say, several dates and months later, the two of them were married.

However when it came to piracy, the two of them had severe issues. Whilst Laura was happy to go along killing and robbing, Stilt was decidedly more lawful, declaring that he was falsely accused of murder and he'd never commit a further crime. But even more troubling was Laura's obsession with land. She'd grown up around legends of ancient machines called Terraformers, which could bring land back to the world. Stilt simply couldn't see the point of such a thing and eventually it caused so many arguments that the two decided to get divorced. In fact by the end it was so bad, Laura wanted to kill Stilt... and still does in fact.

So Stilt was practically alone and no closer to finding his Demon. It was time to form a crew...

I always think that Stilt is a remarkably bright and chirpy character, considering his rather grim past. Then again, they say some people are happier as a reflex of such things. Maybe it's the fact that Stilt's got a light Scottish accent. You can never go wrong there.

I like that he's usually very calm and jokey in the face of some the mad adventures he and his crew end up in. He's infinitely brave and unwaveringly loyal, doing anything for his crew. He's also a very smart man, often being the main brain behind all of their plans.

One of the only problems I sometimes have when it comes to writing him is remembering that his legs make him about twelve foot tall, and that can have consequences in normal-sized rooms!

Tall Tales

Think of a planet, possibly even Earth. Now imagine it's the past... or maybe the future, it doesn't really matter. The important part is that the planet is entirely covered in water. One great big ocean, with not one shred of land. Every sort of building or enterprise you can imagine, takes place on boats and ships. The President and the Government do what they can to keep order, but pirates are still a rather large problem.

This is the world of Tall Tales.

Amongst all of these pirates, Government officials, and normal people, there is a crew composed of Hermes Stilt, a man with stilts for legs, Vanessa the sheep, a ghost named Jacob Daniels, Arthur Scopes a lawyer, a blind doctor by the name of Greta McKlecky, Aphrodite Dutch the ex-wrestler chef, the once legendary senile navigator Edith Font, a crocdilian fisherman called Nigel, and a teenage alchemist known as Nicholas Addamule.

Together they sail the globe, looking for legal treasure and a bit of fun, but often end up dragged into world affairs that tend to threaten everything that wants to keep on living. Whilst they all joined for their own reasons, Stilt formed the crew in order to hunt down a demon who took his legs and framed him for the murder of his family. Being framed for murder at only nine years old was what created Stilt's other passion – always working within the law. His plans are always completely legal and the Government only chases him because of his previous 'crimes'.

This is without a doubt, one of my favourite series to write. I know I love all of my series / children equally, but I'll always hold a special spot for the eldest, Spirit Rider, and the youngest, Tall Tales. It could be that, or it could just be the fact that it's so damn fun!

Quite a departure from Dawn and Dusk and the Fifth Series, Tall Tales really is about fun. I'd like to say that it never goes so far as to be silly, it certainly treads the line sometimes. More than any other, this is a series for kids, but still applies to everyone else. It's my own personal Doctor Who.

It's also my most disjointed series, or to put it another way, there is no set reading order. Each adventure exists of itself. That isn't to say that each book takes place in another universe. It's just that you can read them in any order. At a push you could say that 'The Terrible Threat of the Origin Stories' and 'The Terrible Threat of the Empty Fridge' are the first and last ones, but the rest come anywhere you please!

These are also slightly short stories. So far I've only written one, and it came to about one hundred pages (hand-written on pages of various sizes). So I've decided to release Tall Tales in volumes of about three stories per book.

They're all going to be 'The Terrible Threat of …' and as yet I've not decided what stories go in what volumes, but at the moment I have ideas for the Terrible Threat of …

- Land

- Cell Phones

- Christmas

- Eggs Isle

- Origin Stories

- Zodiacs

- Sheep

- The Kraken

- A Real Job

- Alternate Worlds

- The Moon

- A New Model

- Frowners

- Holy Matrimony

- Captain Shrew

- Honey

- Elections

Fifth Series - The Arch Mages

When magic returned to the planet, six seven particular Mages along with Theophilius, came to control the seven brands of magic. They came to be known as the Arch Mages. Each one also took a portion of the world as their own.

Apart from Theophilius, all the other positions have changes hands over the years since the Mages came to power. The current batch of Arch Mages are all decidedly shifty characters, with each of them hiding a secret – and that includes Theophilius himself.

Whilst they are the most powerful Mages on the planet, they also represent magic's one weak link. They are all bound by something known as the Pact and if their halves re fulfilled, then magic no longer has use of them...

The Arch Mages represented something quite new, where my villains are concerned. Usually I like to put a lot of emphasis on an overarching villain, present throughout the series and appearing in a very visible sense in every book. Theophilius does fill the role of Head Villain, but as of my current plans he certainly doesn't appear in every book and when he does, it isn't for very long.

Having the Arch Mages quite literally rule the world, puts them on quite a pedestal, which is what I want. I want them to appear larger than life and completely unapproachable, which just makes it more of an achievement whenever the group manages to topple one of them.

Fifth Series - Eleanor Derage

Acting as Emma's unofficial parental guardian, Eleanor Derage is one of the very few people in the world who has still knows about Human history and the wonders of technology, actually hoarding quite a bit of it in her observatory home.

Whilst, for all intents and purposes, she appears to be a kind, sweet old lady, Eleanor was once a prominent member of the Human rebellion, only going into hiding to raise Emma. However her passion never died and she passed on all of knowledge and her sleeping anger, onto her young and impressionable granddaughter. Now some years later, she has come to regret this, seeing as it has turned an innocent child into a bitter fighter.

With regards to the rest of the group, Eleanor acts as a sort of mother figure, often giving advice and calling for calm and order. Whilst she isn't much of a fighter any more, she is most certainly the brains of the organisation.

In a similar way to Emma, I wanted Eleanor to be a very visual part of the Human rebellion. However, she exists as a very different side of the rebellion, often having to reign in her granddaughter. Apart from that as well, she does have secrets of her own. Things that won't be revealed for some time...

Fifth Series - Emma Derage

Emma Derage is everything the Human rebels could ask for. She's an orphan, she's angry, and she hates Mages. As something of a local legend, there are naturally a whole host of rumours surrounding her, tantamount among them, that she killed a Mage. Whether or not all the rumours are true, the teenage girl does have a worryingly close relationship with knives and is often remarkably cold.

The only person who can reason with her and who she in return, shows any pleasantness, is her grandmother and guardian – Eleanor Derage. She is very protective of her grandmother, her being the only kind of parent Emma has ever known.

When she eventually winds up with Jack and Mark, she treats the two of them with utter annoyance, seeing them as little more than meddlesome children – even though they're the same age. Tad is another matter though. As he's a Mage (and a whiny, insulting brat as well) she hates him with a passion.

When it came to Emma as a person, the thing I wanted to concentrate on is her anger. She is a little ball of fury who just wants to get even with a world that she feels owes her something. But at the same time, I felt it apt to show her relationship with her grandmother, in order to show a softer side to an otherwise uncompromising and perhaps even vicious character.  

Fifth Series - Thaddeus 'Tad' Pyrestark

With a name like Thaddeus Augustus Winslow Holofernes Pyrestark, I think you can tell that he’s one of the poshest, most cowardly Mages around. He has no real idea what politics govern the world, barely understanding anything beyond his own existence.

Though he starts out as the victim of a poorly-planned kidnapping, within a short space of time, and partly through some Stockholm syndrome, he comes around to helping Humanity. In fact, it is through him that the group discovers the mysterious ‘Pact’, the one secret which their whole crusade rests on.

Despite the fact that they refer to him as ‘Tad’, he still manages to slowly come around to liking the group. But he’s still a Mage, even if he is a fairly useless one. He often argues against causing trouble or excessive violence toward the Mages, but also reminds everyone that most Mages aren’t aware of how bad the situation is.

He is extremely selfish and nasty, often being more trouble than he’s worth, especially when he’s first kidnapped. It is only when he’s truly made to understand what sort of terrible things his father and the other Arch Mages are up to, that he comes around.

The name Thaddeus, and the shortened ‘Tad’ had been going around my head at the time that I imagined the Fifth Series. Much like the Stratigent Jep and Hermes, it was just one those odd words that had been bouncing around my head for a while, that I had been desperate to indulge. The rest of his name was just a bit of fun silliness. 

Fifth Series - Mark Route

Mark has been friends with Jack Pinnacle for as long as he can remember, with the two of them never being far apart. Also being deaf for as long he can remember, Jack acts as a convenient translator, seeing as he’s the only person beyond Mark’s parents, who can perform sign language. Mark only needs help explaining himself, seeing as he is an excellent lip-reader, so long as he can see the people speaking, he’s never left out of a conversation.

Passive as he is, joining the fight for humanity isn’t his idea of fun. Certainly, if Jack wasn’t involved and hadn’t roped him into it, Mark wouldn’t be there. As a minor pessimist, he would always be ready to remind everyone that their plans are full of holes and likely to fail.

A naturally thoughtful and reserved person, Mark is often the one who has to reign in the more extroverted Jack, or occasionally sign to him that: ‘It’s not worth it.’ Though that’s not to say he’s a coward, or he’d run from danger. Moreover, should harm come to the people he cares about, Mark will be one of the first to react and fight back.

I always look to Mark as an interesting character. The decision to make him deaf was two sided. On the one hand, it was something I had never worked with before and thought it would be a new challenge. Also, at the time that I conceived the Fifth Series, I had garnered an interest in learning sign language. I was going to implement this into the Fifth Series, giving it some authenticity and give Mark a way to communicate universally as they travelled the world.

But to my dismay, I discovered that sign language is not a universal language, and varies from country to country. As of this moment, I am still undecided as to whether I should invent my own version of sign language, or attempt to learn British sign language again, and implement that.

Fifth Series - Jack Pinnacle

Jack Pinnacle is a fairly likeable, if somewhat cocky and arrogant, fifteen year old. Unlike some, growing up in a world where the Mages treat him as little more than dirt, hasn’t jaded him one bit. He manages to keep upbeat and happy almost all the time.

He was the victim of a terrible house-fire when he was very young, which left him orphaned and with permanently blackened thumbs. He was taken in by the family of his best friend, Mark Route.  

With regards to wider politics and the state of the world, he’s obviously not thrilled with the way the Mages run everything, and will often be one of the first to raise his voice and let it be known – for better or worse.

But at the same time, the argument could certainly be made that, to some degree, he is all mouth. Sure he can be confrontational, but he’s not stupid. However, when the moment comes, he’s very accepting of where life has taken him and is ready to do his part.

Jack serves an important role  within the group, often drifting between de-facto leader and motivator, encouraging the group when things appear most dire. Obviously he is very close to Mark, having known him his whole life. On occasion, he’ll but heads with both Emma and Tad, and going so far as to call out Mrs. DeRage whenever she becomes too passive.

In a way, I like to contrast Jack with Sam, from Spirit Rider, in that they both share a sort of similar role in their respective series, being teenaged heroes. One of their key differences is both their level of confidence, and their opinions of their destiny. Whereas Sam has a tendency to put himself down and is never really happy about being the Spirit Rider, Jack throws himself into the fray headlong, infinitely confident that he can save the world – and let me tell you, that is his biggest weakness.

Fifth Series

In the not too distant future, an event occurs which returns the forces of magic back into the world. Overnight, two thirds of the population become Mages, gaining terrifyingly powerful magical abilities. But the powers come with a curse of corruption. No matter how they fight it, the Mages unconsciously seek power and conquest. They destabilise the planet’s governments and take the world for themselves. Most Humans give up and accept their fate, though some fight back – but they are quickly annihilated. All the technology in the world can’t save you from men who turn the air itself, into fire.

Those Humans who survive are forced to live under the Mages, at best as second-class citizens, at worst, as slaves. Over time as the generations of Humans begin to die out, the Mages slowly rewrite Human history, stating that they have always ruled. They destroy all trace of technology and Human advancement, forcing them to live in the ruins of their former cities, with no knowledge of technology.

It is several centuries later, that Jack Pinnacle is born into this world. He lives amongst the Humans in the north of England, with the only exciting event in his life being an explosive house-fire that killed his parents. At the age of fifteen, he spends most of his time hanging around with his friend Mark, and attending occasional school classes.

In his spare time, Jack collects any random scraps of technology he can get his hands on – obviously not knowing what they are. Small trinkets like spark plugs and remote controls that the Mages either missed or overlooked.

One day, Jack chances across a mysterious light bulb, which seems to be able to power anything technological, regardless of its natural source of fuel or power. From there, he and Mark become embroiled in a plot to kidnap the son of an Arch Mages, joining forces with the semi-legendary Emma Derage and her grandmother.

Together, they discover a secret that could once again remove magic from the planet and must set out on a journey across the world, going after one Arch Mage at a time.

This whole series sprung from one very simple phrase: “There’s no such thing as magic.” I thought it would be interesting to imagine that phrase reversed. A world of magic, where something as prevalent as technology itself, exists only in legends and bed time stories.

At the same time, having a world with magic gave me a chance to create a whole new magical system, seeing as I didn’t want to just reuse the one from Spirit Rider. Do you want to know about the seven different kinds of magic? Ok!

Green magic is the power to change one thing into another and is used through touch and physical contact. Its Arch Mage rules Britain, Ireland, and Australia. Dark magic is designed specifically to cause harm or pain and requires the user to offer a sacrifice. Its Arch Mage controls the rest of Europe. Purple magic can control the mind and create illusions, being cast via sight and eye contact. Its Arch Mage rules Asia. Blue magic is based around convenience and transport, working via speech. Its Arch Mage holds power in Africa. White magic works to heal and improve health, being cast with writing. Its Arch Mage controls the North and South Poles. Red magic is used to control the weather, being accessed via rituals. Its Arch Mage rules North and South America. Finally, Silver magic is mostly an unknown force, yet holds cataclysmic powers, being used simply with the power of thoughts. It is only used by Theophilus, the ruler of the Mages and one who brought magic back into the world. His seat of power is on the resurfaced continent of Atlantis.

At the moment, I'm having some trouble deciding on a series title, for these books. Obviously I imagine I'll have one by the time it comes to writing the series, but until then, I'll refer to it as 'The Fifth Series'.

Each book will follow the group as they go after one brand of magic at a time, travelling the world and giving humanity the faith to rise up and rebel.

The titles of each of the books are all common sayings based colours. 

Interestingly, early on we see a meeting between all the Arch Mages, with each of them putting on an act, seeing as they all hold a secret of some sort. Each of titles describe how the Arch Mages appear to be, but could really do with a question mark after each of them.

At current, the titles are:

- Green With Envy

- Dark Times

- Purple Haze (not even sure if that is a saying, but I couldn’t find anything else for purple)

- True Blue

- Light At The End Of The Tunnel

- Red Alert

- Clouds With Silver Lining

Wonderland - The Unfit Kingdoms and the Skinster

The Unfit Kingdoms are an extension of the Kingdom of Hearts, which we see in Alice’s Adventures In Wonderland. Partially thanks to Alison the Kingdoms of Hearts, Diamonds, Clubs, and Spades, have all been unleashed upon the world.

Each Kingdom is composed of a King, Queen, Knave, and ten Soldiers, of varying strengths. The Kingdoms all have their own individual plans for Earth and all go about their business in their own ways. The Kingdom of Hearts is often very passionate and violent. The Kingdom of Diamonds is much more conniving and intelligent, preferring not to get their hands dirty. The Kingdom of Clubs is far quieter, but by degrees the most deadly, always having a thirst to cause harm. Whilst the Kingdom of Spades is an odd exception, certainly appearing to be kind and peaceful.

But as each of the Kingdoms’ plans unfolds, someone else is always present. The Skinster is a dark and vicious monster, who acts as an advisor to all four of the Unfit Kingdoms, but at the same time, seems to profit from their destruction just as much as Alison and Wonderland’s denizens do.

He is a particularly gruesome character who often appears as a man covered in bandages – seeing as his name is really something of a cruel joke. He is a man of flesh, but lacks any form of skin. He leaves bloodstains where he walks and though he likes to assume an air of elegance and benevolence, it is really an act to cover the fact that he is little more than a wild animal.

I thought that the Unfit Kingdoms would be the logical extension of the Kingdom of Hearts we get to see in Alice’s Adventures In Wonderland. It seemed only natural that there should be kingdoms for the other three suits in a deck. For a while each of the Unfit Kingdoms took turns to be the main villain, but over time I came up with a secondary plot, and invented the Skinster. Being a skinless man, he’s definitely my most gruesome character and I like to reflect this in his viciousness when provoked. A few alternative names for him were: the Flesher, the Court Magician, the Court Jester, and the Skinless.

Wonderland - The March Hare and The Dormouse

The first of the Mad Hatter’s constant companions is the March Hare. On the one hand, he can sometimes be helpful, if a little irritable as well. However, he has a split personality, which is a hare. Mid-sentence he may well stop talking and begin hopping around the dinner table, nibbling vegetables.

He’s the Mad Hatter’s oldest friend, always sticking by him through thick and thin. He’s grown accustomed to the Mad Hatter’s antics, almost coming to enjoy his constant obsession with tea time.

The Dormouse is a far simpler creature, spending most of his life asleep. This is due to his awe-inspiring power of omniscience. So that the raw power of seeing everything at every moment doesn’t blow up his head, he needs to be almost constantly sleeping.

On the occasions when he does wake up, it is to offer cryptic prophesies about the future. It was one such prophecy that influenced the Mad Hatter into seeking out Alison in the first place.

The March Hare and the Dormouse were another case of characters who changed very little since they were introduced. In the case of the March Hare, he went a long time not being quite mad enough. Looking to the original book, he simply seems to share many of the habits of the Mad Hatter, however I wanted to make him more of an individual character. This was why I gave him the split personality. I had earlier toyed with the idea of giving him no free-will, being forced to do whatever he is told.

The Dormouse, it could be argued, is exactly as he appears in the book, sleeping most of the time, only waking to deliver lines of nonsense. When I read the original book I thought it would be fascinating to consider that the Dormouse’s nonsense might have something more to it. The story he delivers at the Mad Hatter’s tea party, was one I took to be the creation of Wonderland. And later, at Alice’s trial, I seem to remember he noticed Alice was growing, certainly before everyone else. It was from these pieces of evidence that I decided to make him omniscient and prophetic.

Wonderland - The Mad Hatter

Our spotlight-steeling secondary character is none other than the Mad Hatter. Always ludicrous and often making no sense at all, he is the driving force behind the plan to recruit a saviour and stop the Unfit Kingdoms.

At best he uses the wrong words to describe things, and at worst, he spouts entire sentences of nonsense and riddles without answers. He’s obsessed with the idea of tea time, never liking to stray too far from his table, and always with a cup of tea in hand. He also loves birthdays, often deciding to celebrate them, despite the date.

He’s an excellent singer, though again this comes out as warped nursery rhymes. He’s certainly not intelligent, but does sometimes see things in an interesting light, which can lead to inspiration.

Not being very good in a fight, his first instinct is to run, but when backed into a corner his first line of defence is usually his tea, or failing that, a sandwich. However one scene does involve him sword-fighting with a teapot.

He gets on particularly well with Alison, even though his antics often cause her frustration. However he seems to have a vendetta against the mysterious Skinster, who works for the Unfit Kingdoms. The two certainly have a past. As the Mad Hatter himself puts it:

“We have something of a congratulatory relationship…”

Definitely one of the most fun and easy characters to write the only thing I need to be wary of with the Mad Hatter is writing forever, because his conversations are so odd and cyclical.

From early on I made the mistake of making him odd and eccentric as opposed to mad. I went back, read the source material and decided to add a few traits from the book. I’ll admit, the usage of incorrect words was something of my own invention, but everything else appears within the text.

He was originally intended to have a much darker past, with his madness having come from years of torture at the hands of the Queen of Hearts, but this conflicted with the rest of Wonderland’s inhabits who are all naturally mad.

Wonderland - Alison

Straight-forward and fairly logical, Alison likes her life ordered and planned. More often than not it can take only a small thing out of place to annoy her to the point of shouting. All of this unfortunately makes her a poor candidate for Wonderland’s saviour, with her disbelieving everything about it.

She also has a problem with opening up to people, often appearing reserved or even cold. She prefers to keep herself to herself and has few friends. Far from being a cruel or nasty person, Alison does perhaps take sarcasm a bit too far on occasion, causing distress.

But when the refugees from Wonderland appear, she slowly begins to change for the better. As she becomes their unofficial teacher, she begins to understand them and see the people behind the madness. She becomes protective of them and willing to fight for their cause.

Alison was another of those characters who I struggled to understand. Like Sam, she was sort of a place-holder. She was the disbelieving woman, and that was all. Eventually I came up with some ideas and decided to try some new things that I hadn’t explored before.

Where her relationships with other characters are concerned, I tend to go back and forth on a number of people. I can’t make up my mind whether or not she should have a boyfriend, though at the moment it’s looking like no. For the most part I’m certain that she at least tolerates her boss, Mrs. Holtermez, if only because she’s an old woman.

At an early point in the story, I was going to have her very slowly fall in love with the Mad Hatter. This was again, based on me trying things that I hadn’t in other novels. This was a large part of the story for a long time, but eventually I began to grow tired of the idea and didn’t think there was much to do with it.

Wonderland

Let’s imagine a world where Alice in Wonderland was more than a story. What if it was little Alice who told her father stories of her time in a miraculous world? He writes the books, none the wiser to the fact that his daughter had stumbled into another place, impacting it forever.

Now, over a century later, the world of Wonderland is in peril. A mysterious cataclysm threatens to tear the world apart, forcing the largest mass migration in history. The denizens of Wonderland are fleeing to the next place in line – Earth. But along with them come the Unfit Kingdoms, monstrous tyrants based around the four suits of a deck of cards, who want to take Earth as their own.

And all of this chaos comes crashing into the sleepy town of Fiddrington, in the English countryside. Because whilst the rest of Wonderland is just looking for a place to stay, a small group have banded together, looking for a savoir.

Namely, Alison Lewis, who has been chosen, apparently at random, and because her name sounds vaguely like the original Alice. Naturally, being a normal, rational-minded person, Alison spends a large majority of the first book completely denying the situation, deciding it’s all either a dream or a hallucination.

But in spite of herself, Alison soon becomes friends with Wonderland’s people and agrees to help restore their world and save her own from the Unfit Kingdoms – if only because she thinks it will end her dream.

Though she and everyone else must also be wary of the dreaded Skinster, a gruesome entity who seems to influence all of the Unfit Kingdoms and always has his own agenda in helping them.

I first wanted to write a book within the Wonderland mythos after watching the anime Ouran High Host Club do a parody episode of it. It was interesting to see a unique take on the famous characters. I would like to say that my interest was furthered by Tim Burton’s film version, but I found it mildly disappointing.

The Walt Disney film, I found to be so-so, but the original book provided most inspiration. It was then that I decided to do my own thing with them.

I reimagined all of the characters, attempting to make them mad in my own way, as well as adding several new characters of my own design, namely the Unfit Kingdoms and the Skinster.  

As of this moment the books in the series are intended to go:

- Wonderland: Blazing Hearts
- Wonderland: Frozen Diamonds
- Wonderland: Deadly Clubs
- Wonderland: Earthy Spades
- Wonderland: Grim Jokers  

Dawn and Dusk Investigations - The Enigma Killer

Even more mysterious than Inspector Dusk, the Enigma Killer is the person who sets all the series events in motion. He spends the whole time in the shadows, pulling the strings from afar. He only involves himself personally when an investigation ends, killing one final victim.

He always appears to Desmond at the end of investigations, offering cryptic and often threatening messages, hinting that he is closer to Dawn and Dusk than they know. A calculating master of routine and predictions, the Enigma Killer never says a word, preferring to speak through messages, some of them written years in advance.

From what little we see of him, it is clear that the Enigma Killer is a cold psychopath, calmly arranging death and chaos without a second thought. Older than all of the immortals, more than any of them, his crimes are the pinnacle of his existence.

The part of the Enigma Killer that took me the longest was which historical villain he was. Obviously after the likes of Jack the Ripper and Josef Mengele, the series needs to culminate in the most famous of historical villains. Like choosing Dusk’s identity, it took a while.

For a long time it looked like I was going to have to invent my own historical villain, based on how I wanted the eventual plot to go. However I eventually decided to forego that idea when a found a real historical villain who fitted better. This did necessitate changing who Dusk was, but only to some degree.

The second reason there are so many seemingly quite pointless characters across the books, many of whom do not speak, is because one of them is the Enigma Killer. Again, like choosing who he was historically speaking, it also took a long while to decide who he was out of the characters as well. I had considered three other characters before I decided upon who the Enigma Killer finally was.

Even after he (or perhaps she?) is revealed, the Enigma Killer still doesn’t say a word. This is purely a stylistic choice. It was something completely unlike my normal villains, who often rely on monologues and grand speeches. I also feel that a silent, almost monstrous death glare can say so very much.       

Dawn and Dusk Investigations - Dusk

The other lead of Dawn and Dusk Investigations is Inspector Dusk. He’s first introduced rather distantly, not wanting anything to do with Desmond. But he soon comes into focus, bringing with him the series’ mythology.

He’s effortlessly mysterious telling Desmond in their first meeting, that he will never explain his plans and that Desmond should just do his best to keep up. From then on it can safely be said that everything Dusk does is second-guessed.

Dismissively referring to Desmond as his ‘assistant’, Dusk shows off the typical aloofness and arrogance you’d expect from a detective. However as things progress he begrudgingly admits that Desmond isn’t a complete moron and that he may have a few ‘clever hunches’ every now and then.

A large amount of his knowledge on the immortals, and his intellect in general, comes from the fact that he is one of them. Stemming from this is his pathological fear of the past. Everything in his house is constantly being updated. He never eats food more than a few days old. His television is always switched to the twenty-four hour news channels. He won’t step foot in a museum and will punch anyone who asks about his personal history.

In part this is because he suffers from amnesia, not remembering anything before the moment he became immortal. He actively fears remembering his past because, as he himself puts it:

“The Enigma Killer picks the best of history’s monsters. I’ve been at this job a long time now, so tell me: How many people did I kill? What atrocities did I commit? What could I have possibly done that warranted my immortality? Something tells me, I’m not the exception – I’m the rule.”

Dusk has been one of my most troubling characters, taking the longest to form. When I started Dawn and Dusk Investigations I knew little more than ‘he’s clever’. It took a heck of a long time to define any kind of personality, to make him more than a just a brain. The fear of the past helped to some degree, giving me a wealth of scenarios to play on.   

What took just as long was figuring out how he’d look. For an alarming length of time, he became an old, bearded man who wore a hat. Part of me thought this was somewhat unique, but I eventually realised that it wasn’t.

From there I eventually reverted him back to the original image I had, a younger man with black hair, who wore chequered shirts.

His thought process is very shrewd, as I said, never expect to know what he’s thinking until the moment is right. He’s not quite Sherlock Holmes, noticing every detail of the scene around him, in fact as per detective tradition he goes on to insult the famous detective, saying:

“Sherlock Holmes is an idiot. He spends too much time noticing everything when if he was a competent detective he’d only notice the important things.”

Whilst Dusk does find things others may overlook, his work is usually more focussed on ‘the bigger picture’, along with using his cleverness to mask his responses from both the enemy and the audience.     

Dawn and Dusk Investigations - Desmond

Always having a child-like passion for mysteries and crime, Desmond was over the moon when Kalander Incorporated head-hunted him to be their new Inspector Dusk. Whilst at first feeling overwhelmed by the severity of his new job, Desmond soon gets to grips with hunting immortal murderers.

Though still a very intelligent man, Desmond is a little behind his partner, Inspector Dusk. He still manages to catch some things his mysterious colleague misses, with a playful rivalry developing between them. Despite this, and some of Dusk’s more annoying habits, Desmond is considered to be faultlessly reliable, springing into action whenever needed. Though able to handle himself in a fight, he is far better at avoiding conflict where possible.

He is often stoic and won’t tolerate too much from Dusk. Getting consumed by the investigations and guilt when people continue to die, it can be easy to forget that he is very thoughtful and caring.

The only things that can immediately take him away from the investigations are his girlfriend Kayleigh, and his family. He desperately tries to keep Kayleigh away from his work, for fear of her safety, whilst his mother is in a coma, and he visits her often.

Much like Sam, Desmond took a while to form in my mind. I focussed more on the plots of Dawn and Dusk, than the characters. For a long time, something developed that I was deliberately trying to avoid – I’d made my own Holmes and Watson.

The focus was more on Dusk, with Desmond merely tagging along as the narrator, who had things explained to him. When I realised what I’d done, I made a conscious effort to enhance Desmond’s intellect, making him closer to Dusk. He’ll never be smarter, in most cases, but certainly close.

Whilst he’s more professional with Dusk, I added characters like his girlfriend and his mother in order to show Desmond in different situations and give him a greater depth of character.

Dawn and Dusk Investigations

In the world of Dawn and Dusk Investigations, London seems to be under the constant threat of increasingly devious and creative serial killers. What most of the public don’t realise, however, is that these killers, who often seem to have something of an odd streak, are actually some of history’s most notorious criminals, turned immortal long ago, and assaulting the world one at a time.

Enter Kalander Incorporated, a mysterious company who employ Detectives Dawn and Dusk. With enough money and political ties, the company has full control of all the cases involving the immortal criminals.

Lives always hang in the balance as the likes of Jack the Ripper and Elizabeth Bathory have had centuries to plan their murders. Only Desmond, the newly appointed Dawn and his partner, the enigmatic Dusk, whom Kalander has decided are the best of the best, have any hope of riddling out the immortals’ crimes.

Though things may seem singular at first, a grander plot is in motion. The mysterious Enigma Killer performs a final murder whenever one of the killers is caught. A final “take that” to Inspector Dusk, who has never managed to catch him. He is in contact with all the killers, and the one to thank for their immortality.

This was the third series I came up with, first becoming truly inspired after watching the anime Death Note. I was intensely captivated by the cleverness of the series and loved the cat and mouse element. This was further enhanced when I started to gain an interest in Sherlock Holmes, greatly helped by the adaptations by Guy Riche and the BBC respectively.

The three rules I knew I must follow when I started Dawn and Dusk were:

1) Make it clever.

2) Make it logical.

3) Make it interesting.

The last one was of most importance. It’s one thing to look over an investigation and say “oh now that’s a clever conclusion”, but it’s another to find something interesting. Of utmost importance, is remembering that it’s a book.

In one early incarnation, the whole series was based around one criminal – Jack the Ripper. It would have been a series of books about how Dawn and Dusk eventually catch him, getting closer and closer or getting a new clue each time. This would have worked entirely based on the cat and mouse principle. But I found it was too much and couldn’t sustain a whole series.

Seeing as the series is based around London, and I don’t actually live anywhere there the place, I decided to employ Google Street-Viewer. I’d fly around London looking for interesting exteriors. Of course I’ve had to invent the insides.

I’m thinking of possibly having a few more than these, but at present, the books are as follows (with working titles that will very well change):

- Dawn & Dusk Investigations – Jack the Ripper
- Dawn & Dusk Investigations – Guy Fawkes
- Dawn & Dusk Investigations – Elizabeth Bathory
- Dawn & Dusk Investigations – Josef Mengele
- Dawn & Dusk Investigations – Caligula
- Dawn & Dusk Investigations – Enigma Killer                  

Underside - Lady Anita

Truly a force to be reckoned with, Lady Anita is the seven-year-old girl who rules Underside with an iron fist, and acts as the primary villain of the series.  She was chosen, seemingly at random, to gain unimaginable powers, several thousand years ago. So fearsome were her abilities, that she was able to fight the Creators and force them to flee and create Paralex.

From that moment she turned Underside into a military state, with most of the country focussed on destroying Paralex. The methods she uses with her people are often harsh, with minor punishments being doled out by the Hallows, who acts as her personal police force.

Fear is the main method Anita uses to rule Underside. If the memory of her banishing the Creators isn’t enough of a reminder, then Anita’s rare public appearances often do the job. She only appears to people when things are dire. When she appears in a bustling street of people, every single individual stops and averts their gaze.

But despite her terrible powers, Anita is not indestructible and her powers do have a limit. All of her abilities appear to originate from something very mysterious, lying at the very top of her tower-the Adonium.

Personally, Anita may look like a child, but the unimaginable powers within her have made the little girl into something dark and cold. She’s quick to anger and unleashes her powers with little warning. She seems to take some cruel pleasure in causing suffering to her subjects. Though also an expert strategist, she prefers to act with violence, meeting force with force.

Like with most of my series, the villain is one of the oldest and changed parts of Underside, seeing as, like Acheron, Anita’s plans are what drive the entire plot. Originally, she was the unwitting pawn in a dark version of the Little Red Riding-Hood story, having lost her grandmother to a God-like wolf, and unknowingly asking that same powerful entity for the ability to kill it. She was granted four canine spirits, parodying the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse, who gave her, her powers. Her plan from there was to kill the wolf, who represented death itself, thus unbalancing nature. The unbalance would be so powerful that it would quite literally turn the world upside down, putting Underside where Paralex is now.

It would have also been ended with Anita’s Grandmother, who survived, carrying Anita’s innocence within her, returning that innocence to the girl’s soul and undoing all of her evil.

But now I’ve got something far, far better. It all centres around the source of Anita’s power. Let’s put it this way, the first Underside book ends at the top of the Adonium…         

Underside - Xavier

An ex-English teacher, Xavier is more commonly recognised as the man who went insane and murdered a classroom full of students. He’s an outlaw in possession of the Weapon, an ancient device made up of a gun which never misses and a bullet that always kills. The Weapon has an inexorable control over the person who holds it, giving them a manic sense of glee and urges to kill random people. As such, Xavier and the Weapon are hard to differentiate, making it hard to tell who is speaking at any one time.

The Weapon’s twitchy mania often makes Xavier believe he’s the star of the show, the one person Underside can rely on. In a way he’s right, with both Professor Canis and Beatrice agreeing that Xavier is an invaluable, if highly dangerous, resource.

Though the Weapon has a lot of control, shadows of Xavier’s former self still shine through, like his status as a former English teacher, for instance. As a sort of verbal tic, he always corrects the last thing he said, offering a more impressive word or phrase.

“We need to leave - now! Or better yet: at this present moment, departing this location with extreme haste is in our best interests!”

When I was still working on character, he actually came with a companion. A very tall, grey-skinned man named the Guardian. He was the one who carried the Weapon when Xavier wasn’t using it, also acting as Xavier’s personal butler. Also of note, the Weapon was originally a sword and Xavier’s mania was natural, as opposed to being part of the Weapon.

Xavier’s name was originally Tamlin Jones, being named after an English teacher I had once had myself. They shared nothing in terms of personality, I just liked the name. But in the end, I thought Xavier sounded better.

Underside - Beatrice Ledouf

Beatrice Ledouf is a high-ranking veteran of the Underside / Paralex war. She has medals for her bravery and abilities, being a fantastic strategist and an expert marksman, never going anywhere without a gun. Something of a larger woman, Beatrice hails from the north of Underside, and her voice carries a faint accent. She’s not so much ugly as she is… off-pretty.

She is often aloof and unapproachable, with an air of culture in both her tastes and mannerisms. She enjoys insulting Professor Canis and refuses to work with him.

As I said in an earlier post, when I was creating the characters of Underside, I was eager to make them as different from those of Spirit Rider as possible. This relates back to Beatrice, who at one time, was a far more attractive, thin woman with dark hair. I soon realised I’d recreated Grim, and had given her a gun. In order to combat this I went entirely in the other direction, in regards to appearances.

Once more, Beatrice is another character at least partially imported from one of the games I planned to make when I was younger. However in that iteration she was the thin woman described above, and came from a cowboy-styled dimension.

I got her name from the same place as I did Professor Benedick Canis’ – Shakespeare’s Much Ado About Nothing. I was fascinated by the relationship between Benedick and Beatrice in the play and wanted to parody them to at least some extent in my own work.

At one point I had intended to give her an estranged boyfriend and then kill him off, off-screen, thus throwing her into a harrowing depression. But it felt like it was there for the sake of drama and so I binned off the notion.       

Underside - Professor Benedick Canis

Undoubtedly the smartest member of the group planning to depose Lady Anita, Professor Canis is a prolific inventor and C.E.O of Canis Industries. An attempted genetic experiment some years ago went awry, turning the good professor into a shaggy, black dog. He still wears spectacles and has a specially adapted laptop strapped to his stomach.


Though he's mostly pleasant to everyone else, he never passes up a chance to trade insults with his ex-lover Beatrice Ledouf. At the same time as this, he's also very worrisome and pedantic, being the first one to panic in a dire situation. But at the same time, this is usually when his encyclopaedic knowledge of Underside is most useful.


His family has been providing the war with death-machines, weapons, and Hallows for thousands of years, with Canis Industries being the most renowned, all purpose company in Underside. It was only when the company passed to Benedick, that he took a stand.


Professor Canis is to Underside, as Grim is to Spirit Rider. He acts as Mr. Exposition, able to explain anything overly complicated to the audience. I do feel such characters tend to be necessary in stories with so many vast and ranging concepts. At the same time, I had to distance him from Grim, so immediately toned down the sarcasm and replaced it with other traits. It could be argued that Grim's necessary attributes are divided between Professor Canis and Beatrice Ledouf, with him getting her brains and Beatrice getting her fighting prowess, though it could be argued that Tamlin Jones serves that role as well. But of course, more on them later. 


Professor Canis is another of my older characters, pre-dating my desire to be a writer. Professor Canis came from a game I wanted to design called 'Zyden', about a boy gaining the powers of the zodiac, but (all together now!) more on that later.