Alex English
About Author
Alex English is a picture book author, a graduate of the Bath Spa University MA Writing for Young People and a SCBWI volunteer. She currently lives with her family just outside Paris. Sky Pirates: Echo Quickthorn and the Great Beyond is her first middle-grade title and the start of a swashbuckling new series.
Interview
JULY 2020
SKY PIRATES: ECHO QUICKTHORN AND THE GREAT BEYOND, SIMON AND SCHUSTER CHILDREN'S BOOKS
ECHO QUICKTHORN AND THE GREAT BEYOND is the first in the new SKY PIRATES series from ALEX ENGLISH and illustrated by MARK CHAMBERS.
This is a brilliant adventure that takes Echo, her pet lizard Gilbert and friend Horace, beyond the narrow walls of Lockfort to discover new cities and islands, strange creatures and the occasional danger as they hunt for Echo's mother.
Author ALEX ENGLISH tells us more about her new fantasy adventure:
1. Is Sky Pirates the kind of book you would have enjoyed as a child?
Yes, absolutely! I loved adventures and fantasy stories - anything that let me escape in to an exhilarating new world. I was a keen reader and loved The Enchanted Wood by Enid Blyton, The Wolves of Willoughby Chase series by Joan Aiken and The Chronicles of Prydain by Lloyd Alexander.
2. In one sentence - what is Sky Pirates about?
Eleven-year-old Echo and her pet lizard, Gilbert set out on an incredible airship adventure to find her missing mother.
You can watch the book trailer here -
3. What sparked the idea for Sky Pirates, and a girl who longs for adventure?
I love to travel the world - I've lived in Hong Kong and Paris, dodged hippos while canoeing the Zambezi and sledded dogs in Finland, amongst other adventures! I'm naturally itchy-footed, so I suppose I took a bit of myself and exaggerated it in to something fantastical.
4. Can you tell us a bit about the main characters, Echo and Horace?
Echo has grown up as a ward of the king in Lockfort, after being abandoned as a baby. She's brave, but sometimes doesn't think before she acts. Prince Horace is the only other child that Echo knows, he's cautious and bit of a scaredy cat (or pudding heart, as Echo likes to call him), but can be braver than he thinks. They often annoy each other but they become great friends.
5. Gilbert is Echo's pet lizard - why did you decide on a lizard for a pet?
I don't really know! Gilbert just sort of arrived in my story and he seemed so cool that I let him stay. Stories are mysterious things sometimes.
6. How did you develop the world in the story? Did you sketch out a map of the places to help find your way around? What are your top tips for creating a fantasy world?
Yes, I did sketch out a map to help keep me organised, although I made up a lot of the world as I went along so it kept changing.
My top tip is not to wait until your world is perfect to start writing a story, just get going and discover it along with your character.
7. Of all the places you describe in the novel, which one would you most like to visit?
I'd love to visit the Violet Isles and feed the giant butterflies.
8. There are some fabulous gadgets in the novel - which one would you like to bring home with you?
I think it would have to be Smokesister, Abena's mechanical dragon.
9. In the story Echo desperately wants to be able to explore and have adventures. What would have been your top three career choices as a child?
I did always want to be an author as a child, but failing that I would have loved to be an explorer or naturalist. Being an author has turned out to be the perfect excuse to have lots of adventures in the name of research.
10. Where is your favourite place to write, and what does your writing day go like? What would your dream writer's shed be?
I usually write at my kitchen table, or out and about at a cafe in Paris, where I live. I write during the day while my children are at school and I do most of my drafting in the morning when I'm fresh while drinking a huge cup of tea. I would love to have a writer's shed, or perhaps a treehouse-like Doctor Beetlestone!
11. What are you working on now - will we be seeing more of Echo. Gilbert and Horace?
You certainly will! I am currently working on Echo's second adventure in the Sky Pirates series.
12. Do you read middle-grade fiction - any recommendations for our members?
I absolutely love middle-grade fiction. Recently I've enjoyed The Girl Who Stole an Elephant by Nizrana Farook, The Unadoptables by Hana Tooke and Malamander by Thomas Taylor.
13. What's your favourite escape from your desk?
Travel is my favourite escape, whether that's heading into the city to an amazing art gallery or going for a quiet wander in the woods. A change of scenery helps refresh my brain and I often get some new ideas too.
Sky Pirates: Echo Quickthorn and the Great Beyond
