Joe Donnelly

Joe Donnelly, a former journalist, has previously published eight adult fantasy/horror stories (for RHPG and Penguin). He has an MPhil degree in American Studies. He lives in the west of Scotland. Jack Flint is his first children's novel.

Joe Donelly writes about his motivation for starting to write the Jack Flint adventures

It's Payback Time

It’s a fair cop, Guv. It was guilt wot made me do it!

I admit it. That’s why I decided to write an adventure for young people (of any age). Sheer guilt.

When I was small, I devoured adventure stories. You name it, I got myself lost in it. Treasure Island. Call of the Wild. Coral Island. All of Jules Verne. Everything by HG Wells that I could get my hands on. Rider Haggard. Rudyard Kipling.

If I wasn’t up in the hills having my own adventures, I had my nose in one. I actually lived every book I read. In fact, when I was about eight or so, it was a great disappointment to discovered there were no more continents to discover. That the dinosaurs had actually gone extinct. That there were no dragons (apart from some awesome teachers). And we hadn’t even visited the far stars!

The stories were so real to me that reality came as a shock. But even then, when I was submerged in a good ripping yarn, I always told myself that someday I would write terrific stories of adventure that would give other kids the sheer goose-pimpling thrill that I was enjoying.

On summer nights, I made up gripping yarns of magic and mayhem for my brothers, places with fantastic creatures, or monsters, or hidden treasure. True, I didn’t write them down, because at that stage, as my teachers often told me, my handwriting was atrocious, and also because it was a laborious task.

I did become a writer. I worked as a reporter in newspapers and had a few adventures of my own. The best thing was, that I learned to type very fast, and writing became much less of a slog.

Then I wrote my first book, a creepy tale about an old entity that caused havoc in a small village near where I stay. And I wrote a few more and found I enjoyed making up stories again.

But something still niggled. Basically I felt guilty that I hadn’t made an attempt to give back some of the excitement of adventure stories that had thrilled me to the core as a boy. So this first book for the young and imaginative, Jack Flint and the Redthorn Sword, is the first instalment. As they say in the movies: It’s payback time.

The Redthorn Sword in just a down-payment too. Jack Flint’s next adventure is almost finished and I’m about to start on what he does next. He’s a good guy, Jack Flint. A good guy to have at your back, or by your side. I hope you like him too.

Because I’m going with Jack on a few hair-raising quests into the unknown!

Joe Donnelly
July 2007