"Thrillingly dramatic, a heart-pumping tale set in a vividly-imagined world."
(William Nicholson - Author of The Wind Singer, Oscar-nominated screenwriter of Gladiator)
**CloudWorld At War is also available to buy on amazon.co.uk and amazon.com.
**You can now read an interview with me about writing the CloudWorld novels here, at the Bookfiend's Kingdom website
CloudWorld is a fantasy novel for young adults, published by Faber and Faber in 2006. In 2007 it was nominated for the Manchester Boook Award. A sequel, CloudWorld At War, was published in 2008.
The story is set on a planet entirely covered in a thick cloud layer. Mountain peaks - thousands of miles apart - rise out of the clouds, their gentle slopes covered in fields and orchards. Many of the
peaks also have citadels on them. The citadels are built in layers: each
layer wider than the one above and encircled by a fortified wall, the topmost crowned by a marble palace.
The cloud-dwellers are not aware that they live on mountain peaks and the nature of the cloud depths is an abiding mystery to them; many believe that it’s the realm of Omnium, a divine being who created their world. At the beginning of CloudWorld, the king of one of the citadels – Heliopolis (‘city of the sun’) – fails to return from a diplomatic visit to a neighbouring citadel, Selenopolis (‘city of the moon.’). He is presumed lost in the cloud depths. His son, Marcus, who lives a sheltered but lonely life in the palace, insists that a mission across the cloudscape be staged in search of the king. But Marcus realises too late that there is conspiracy in the citadel. Someone wants him dead and he is plunged into a terrifying new world beneath the clouds.
Called Daldriadh, this is a more ancient, less evolved place. Its inhabitants have created a whole religion based around debris fallen through the clouds over many centuries. They are perpetually at odds with one another, but also determined not to be colonised. Marcus has to not only survive in this world, but also win the trust of the races who live there and find a way of getting home…
CloudWorld and CloudWorld At War are available from amazon.co.uk, amazon.com, amazon.ca, amazon.fr, amazon.de, amazon.jp.
Illustrations by David Wyatt