I’ve decided that spring and fall are the two best times for authors because it’s when they finally get to see their hard fought words, untangled plots and fleshed-out characters come to life. Spring and fall are when the new books hit the stores.
This spring, I’m especially lucky because I have several books coming out and after months of telling people what I’m working on, they finally get to see that I wasn’t delusional. I’ve already told you about my books in the Real World of Pirates series, so now I present “A United Force” just published by Scholastic and part of their new Timeline series of graphic novels.
Continuing with the tradition of the writer knowing last, I just discovered the books by searching the Scholastic website and have yet to receive my author copies. I also don’t have a bigger image of the cover than that little thumbnail up there. But wheels are in motion and I’m expecting some goodies in the mail any day now. (Update: I was just sent a larger image and here it is.)
Update 2: In another ‘great’ publishing tradition, I wasn’t told who would be illustrating A United Force. When I asked, the illustrator wasn’t confirmed and when he was confirmed, I wasn’t told (does this happen to Stephen King, I wonder?) Anyway, I’ve now made contact with the illustrator. He is Mike Rooth and he judging from the great job he did on the cover, I’m extremely excited to see the interior art. Check out Mike’s portfolio site to see some of the other work he’s done.
“A United Force” is a historical graphic novel taking readers back to Julius Caesar’s first invasion of what is now Britain. Everyone knows that the Romans conquered Britain and stayed there for centuries. But what often gets forgotten is that the great Julius Caesar failed in his first attempt to conquer the island. A combination of bad planning, bad weather and a united force of Celt warriors sent the Romans packing.
I originally called the manuscript “Battle at Deal Beach”, but it was changed late in the publishing process (another great publishing tradition.) The Timeline graphic novel series is great because it combines a fictional story told in comic format with historical facts (teaching them without them knowing, brilliant isn’t it?)
Since I’m Irish, writing about Celts was a lot of fun. And I got to write about battles and bloodshed. What more could I ask for? The books are being sold directly to schools and are available to order from the Scholastic Canada site.
I’ll post a bigger cover image when I get one. In the meantime I’ll be watching the mail for my copies.
That is bloody beautiful, Liam! Congratulations 🙂 I’m looking forward to picking this (and all) up!
Thanks Anita. I am very happy with the art work and looking forward seeing the book in print. By sounds of it, you’ve got a busy summer ahead of you too and I’m looking forward to picking up the results of all your creative work next spring.
Terrific work, congrats man. I can’t wait to pick this up – it looks like something that would be a labour of love.
It certainly was a lot of fun to write, Jason. I learned a heck of a lot about ancient history, the Celts and the Roman Empire. Amazing stuff.
Well done! They look like beautiful books and I am sure children will just love them – the sort of books i would have loved as a 7 year old (or 37 year old for that matter.)
Can we expect to see a snake eating a frog in your next book?
Thanks Andrew – and yes my next project is three part trilogy telling the story of an innocent frog who took up residence in an old lady’s garden. Then a snake ate him. Thanks for the inspiration and no, you don’t get a cut. 🙂
Hi Liam,
Mike Rooth here. Very proud to have worked on this story with you. It was a great labour of love for me as well, my favourite of the four Timeline books I have created so far – pencilled, inked, and coloured with love. Hundreds of hours of of work 🙂
Cheers for now,
Mike
Hey Mike! Thanks for saying hi and thanks for the great work on A United Force. I’m sorry that we haven’t met before this. It seems so weird, but that is the world of publishing, I guess – and definitely worth a post.
I encourage everyone to go check out Mike’s site and see the other great work he’s done. Nice stuff!