WORKS-IN-PROGRESS

THE WONDERLING

My current project is an illustrated middle grade epic fantasy series called The Wonderling (published by Candlewick Press, 2017) which won the 2014 runner up for the SCBWI Work-in-Progress Grant for Fiction. The two books in the series are titled The Wonderling: Songcatcher, and The Wonderling: Singing Tree. 

The Wonderling is set in a slightly steampunk Victorian land ruled by the High Hats, while the Groundlings, the animal-human hybrids, live in servitude, working in underground factories in the City Below the City. Our hero, Number 13, is a shy, one-eared, fox-like foundling who, with the help of his bird-friend Trinket, escapes the treacherous orphanage he was brought up in, and goes on a remarkable journey to seek his destiny. The first book is now out in bookstores world-wide! The movie version, directed by Stephen Daldry and produced by Working Title Films, is currently in development. Stay tuned for future developments! For more information on the book series, go here: http://www.thewonderlingbook.com

THE ECHOERS

In order to write The Wonderling, I put aside (but not forever!) another illustrated trilogy for middle grade called The Echoers, set above the Arctic Circle in Northern Norway. It’s an epic story about Kristina, a Sámi (Lapp) girl, who must travel far and wide, and go through perilous trials in both the past and the future, in order to become the true Pathfinder (shaman) of her people. And she must also carry a precious gift across the tundra and across time itself, in order to save someone she loves. How far would you walk to save someone you loved?

ALTERNATE ENDINGS

Alternate Endings is an (as yet unpublished) illustrated collection of retold
biographies of famous
(and not so famous) dead people, animals, and forgotten towns. You can read selections and see illustrations from the book
HERE , published in the the Spring 2014 issue of the Massachusetts Review, and/or WATCH AND LISTEN to me read a couple too.






THE FORGOTTEN ISLAND

I am also sporadically working on a top secret book with the amazing Jedediah Berry, author of the award-winning novel The Manual of Detection. I can’t say anymore about it (duh: it’s secret!) but you should know that there are fantastical beasts, forgotten islands, ancient manuscripts, and maps. And much of this project is determined by chance: by the toss of a pair of wooden dice, and mysterious clues pulled out of a 19th century trilby. A trilby is a hat. In case you didn’t know. At least I think it was a trilby...