New directions for Chichester writer

Chichester author Chris Casburn '“ writing as Christopher Joyce '“ brings to a conclusion his The Creatures of Chichester series with the sixth volume, The One About The Golden Lake.
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New book

Christopher said: “‘The One About The Golden Lake finds fishy goings on at the university, and once again tells the story of how the creatures in the city pull together to solve the mystery.”

Christopher is delighted that the book also has an introduction from dyslexia specialist Jaqui Flisher.

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“All my printed books are produced with a large font that is left justified. This make them easier to read. Most of my books are also available as e-books and audio books too, and I hope to have an audio version of The One About The Golden Lake available next spring.”

“The latest book finds Chichester flooded by a weird golden lake just after New Year’s Day. This is followed by a freak storm that covers the south coast and blocks all communications: “It’s always a challenge to explain why your characters can’t just pick up their mobile phone to get out of a tricky situation. I also have to confess that flooding the city was also necessary to give Doc and the other goldfish a chance to take part in the action. The books are all about however small you are, or overlooked you feel, you can always make a difference.”

“It’s been a joy working on The Creatures series but this is the last one. All the books are available from Amazon and Present Surprise in South Street, Chichester. Visit www.creaturesofchichester.com for more information.

“When I started the books, I realised that creating a series for children was the way to go as hopefully they will want to read more than just one. I always had six books in mind, and wanted to have a popular pet on the cover of each book. Not surprisingly The One About The Stolen Dog is the most popular. Each of the books can be read alone, but there are a few characters that carry through each one. The message remains the same, which is ‘local heroes fighting for justice’. That sounds a bit heavy but when your heroes are goldfish, hamsters and rabbits, it makes it more fun. When they agree to put their prejudices aside and pull together, they achieve great things. Creating a world of your own does become a bit obsessive and you find yourself inspired by small things that happen around you. The noisy, squeaking seagull that woke me up at 4am became Wave Rider, the leader of the flock who is worshipped by the thousands of restaurant managers flooding into the city in The One About The Edible Aliens. A trip to the ghost train at the Sloe Fair became the perfect place to end The One About The Smelly Ghosts.”

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“It’s also been interesting to build the brand across all six books. I’ve changed the cover designs twice since the first book but I’m very happy with the current covers. It’s one of the great things about self-publishing. It gives you total control of how your book looks, what genre you want to appear in your books. I’m proud to join Charles Dickens and Virginia Woolf as a self-published author.”

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