Something about The Ghost Squad…

In the next few weeks, leading up to the release of The Ghost Squad, I’ll be posting snippets about the book, its background and inspirations, but I thought I’d start today with a short outline of the story, which includes the back cover blurb but expands a bit on it…

Imagine a world where all seems normal and yet nothing is – a world very much like our own, yet jarringly unlike. A world where two clandestine organisations, the Ghost Squad and the Base, are engaged in a secret battle for control of information so dangerous it could literally change life as humans have always known it…

Sixteen-year old Polly Sikorski lives an ordinary life in an ordinary small town with her mother, a homicide detective. But when her mother goes missing while investigating a case, Polly is catapulted into a very different life, where nothing will ever be the same again. Running from the police, she encounters seventeen-year old Swan, a tough young Base operative. On their way to shelter, they come across a little boy, Kel, who’s on the run, and take him under their wing. It is a momentous decision that will take them into the dark heart of the shattering secrets that lie behind the apparent normality of the world. Battling to find answers and protect Kel from his pursuers, they run into greater and greater danger.  As the Ghost Squad and the Base close in on them and the story races to its thrilling conclusion in the eerie, steam-wreathed town of Hot Springs, Polly and Swan must face the most stunning discovery of all.

A bold, exciting YA novel with thrilling twists and turns, The Ghost Squad is a novel that will keep readers guessing – and keep them awake at night!

Fabulous advance review of The Ghost Squad!

I was so delighted this week to see the fabulous first advance review, in Books +Publishing, for my YA speculative fiction thriller, The Ghost Squad. The book is released on February 1st, 2021 by MidnightSun Publishing.

With the permission of Books +Publishing, here’s a short extract from the review (reviewer is Stefen Brazulaitis, owner of Stefen’s Books, in Perth)

This is a dynamic and exciting thriller with smart, relatable characters, similar to Sean Williams’s ‘Twinmaker’ series. It’s intense, but without profanity and virtually no violence. Though the death/afterlife aspects of the story are important, its core is about trust, loyalty and the courage to do what is right—even at a personal cost. Although it’s not quite as dark, The Ghost Squad should appeal to fans of Stranger Things and readers of John Marsden’s ‘Tomorrow’ books.

Woohoo! Don’t mind at all being in such great company 🙂

Guest post by author Justin Woolley, book-release buddy!

Author Photo - Justin Woolley A Town Called Dust CoverToday, my blog features a special guest–fellow Momentum author Justin Woolley, who’s also my book-release buddy, as his debut novel, a dystopian YA novel titled A Town Called Dust, comes out tomorrow, along with my own Trinity: Koldun Code.

In this fascinating post, Justin writes about the influences behind his creation of the distinctive world of A Town Called Dust, but first, to set the scene, let’s get a taster of the book from the blurb:

Stranded in the desert, the last of mankind is kept safe by a large border fence… Until the fence falls.
Squid is a young orphan living under the oppressive rule of his uncle in the outskirts of the Territory. Lynn is a headstrong girl with an influential father who has spent her entire life within the walled city of Alice.
When the border fence is breached, the Territory is invaded by the largest horde of undead ghouls seen in two hundred years. Squid is soon conscripted into the Diggers – the armed forces of the Territory. And after Lynn finds herself at odds with the Territory’s powerful church, she too escapes to join the Diggers.
Together Squid and Lynn form an unlikely friendship as they march to battle against the ghouls. Their journey will take them further than they ever imagined, leading them closer to discovering secrets about themselves, their world, and a conspiracy that may spell the end of the Territory as they know it.

Wow–that’s some set-up! Over to you, Justin. We’re all ears!

Inspiration for a book is a funny old thing. It never hits you as one fully formed idea; at least it never hits me that way. For me it’s more like that scene in Jurassic Park where Robert Muldoon, the park game warden, is facing off against the velociraptors. The ideas all sneak up on you and ambush you from different directions sometimes leaving you quite surprised. “Clever girl…” That’s how it was with the inspiration for my debut novel A Town Called Dust, a dystopian young adult novel set in a post-apocalyptic version of the Australian outback, inspiration came at me from many directions. Continue reading