Shadows: Book One in the Shadows Series

Have you ever felt that part of you is missing?Lonely gamer Griffin is haunted by nightmares of a monster that killed his mother. When he is transported to a world of magical creatures called Shadows, everything he knows is turned upside down.Griffin is rescued by an eccentric dragon-parrot named Cirrus and they instantly sense a connection to each other- a secret locked in their pasts that could change both of their worlds... forever. The unlikely pair are forced to flee, pursued by an Empire that views any relationship between human and Shadow as a dangerous sickness.Hunted through floating cities and forests of giant proportions, Griffin and Cirrus must discover the truth about their connection before they are locked away for 'treatment', abandoned to a terrifying fate.Shadows is the first book in the Shadows series, for fans of Pokemon and other tales of unlikely friendship between human and monster, but set against the backdrop of a darkly thrilling mystery.

Interview with the Author

Q: Is it true you started writing the Shadows Series when you were nine?A: It is! I think it was around that time that I started feeling the lonely feeling, that sensation of missing something, but I wasn’t quite sure what. So I started telling Shadows as bedtime stories to my godsister, and it grew from there. I wrote countless drafts in the back of the class at school, and when I was fourteen I tried to get it published. It took a wee bit longer than that for it to get out into the world, but it feels so good that it’s here now and people are reading it and each having their own unique experience of it. Q: If you had to compare Shadows to something, what would you compare it to? A: I hear people saying it reminds them slightly of Saturday morning cartoons, and it definitely carries that inspiration; I grew up with Beyblades, Pokemon and those sorts of anime on TV, and also those old movies on VHS like Dragon World and The Legend of Galgameth, where the young human befriends a magical creature. Personally I think those comparisons exist because the soul-linked magical creature thing, what I like to call “monster buddy” fiction, is less of a genre these days- so I’m hoping that Shadows helps bring it back! I’d love more authors to be putting out books like that so I can read them. Q: So what genre does Shadows fall into then? A: It’s a young adult thriller, amongst good company like the Hunger Games, the Maze Runner and the Chaos Walking Trilogy. It’s definitely fantasy/science fiction, but it’s based in our own modern time. I see it as less a typical fantasy adventure quest, and more so a thriller where the characters are running for their lives, being hunted, trying to survive just long enough to unravel whatever the heck the conspiracy is they’ve gotten themselves caught up in. It’s emotional, thrilling, laugh-out-loud (I hope), and a lot of fun.Q: Be honest. Is Griffin Cameron based on you? A: No. He’s much shorter.Q: Anything else to add?A: Read Shadows for Cirrus, the Fruit-Loops loving, slightly unhinged dragon-parrot. See, you’ve got to read it now. Thanks for reading!