Looking back at my list of publishing dates for my books, I noticed that today is exactly SIX years since Festival of Fiends, (currently) the last book in the Edinburgh Elementals series, was published!
This is actually my favourite in the series, and not just because it's the biggest in terms of amount of pages. It was the most fun to write, and the stakes were as high as they'd ever been, especially for Hattie and Michael.
The book is set slap-bang in the middle of the annual Edinburgh Fringe Festival that happens in the Scottish capital, every August. One of the characters, Lyle Sanders - an English comedian up in Edinburgh for the festival - is actually based on a real-life comedian, though I won't reveal who. In the story, Hattie doesn't find Lyle funny at all. I'm happy to say that I do think the real-life comedian is very funny. I was just picturing this person in my head when writing Lyle. Honest!
There's not just unfunny (to Hattie) comedians in Festival of Fiends. As you may have guessed by the title, there's also beings of a demonic persuasion. We are also introduced to a family of good witches, one of whom takes a shine to Hattie's father. Hattie's dad is another new character and if I was to cast this book, I'd definitely want David Warner (Time Bandits, The Omen) in the role.
Earlier, I did mention that this was currently the last book in the series. I did plot out a storyline for Book 5, which would have seen Hattie become a sort of mentor to a young troublemaker who is startled to find she has the same ability as Hattie... but real-life got in the way, other stories pushed in line. I'll perhaps return to the series in due course, but as for the moment there's four stories to entertain you. The first book, The Trouble With Pixies, is free from all good ebook retailers.
