Fantasy novel by Wolverhampton author will soon be hitting shelves
A fantasy novel written by a woman in Wolverhampton will soon be hitting the shelves of book stores across the region.
The author, who prefers to use her pen-name Ruby Steele, has had her second young-adult book released called Arenskav.
The book is set in the Great Estate – a land bordered by mountains – which is being drained of its energy mysteriously.
Townsfolk are being affected and it leads to Penn Maegwyth, Af Omer and Whome setting out on a quest to tackle the problem.
Ruby, who wrote the book as the second in a trilogy after releasing Smeakmaster, said: "It took me – once I decided I was going to write – about six weeks to do.
"Once I get the idea, as soon as it comes to me, it just pours out of me. It follows on from Smeakmaster and that's set in the Great Estate too. They've all got an eco-theme in them, but they didn't start out like that originally."
The author said she had came up with the idea for the books around 18 years ago and had been submitting the story, after she wrote it out fully, to publishers, but she didn't have much success due to the popularity of another book.
"At that moment, who had just hit the bookshelves? Harry Potter – I didn't stand a cat in hell's chance, so I left it for a number of years," she added.
The 77-year-old author went to Austin Macauley Publishers for her second book which is going to be in Warstones and in other book stores, with it already being available online – including on Amazon. She added she was waiting for the day she saw the book on sale at Heathrow Airport as proof "I've made it".
