People sometimes ask 'how did you get into writing?'. Well, this wasn't the first book with my name on the cover (another story for another days, perhaps). But it was the first book with only my name on the cover. And how it happened? Well, some time ago (let's not get into how long - I feel old already), I sent a potential Query - the letter a writer sends to Agents to try and get them interested in a Book - to the Magnificent Query Shark. She reviews such things, tears them to shreds, laughs maniacally - and tries to show how to improve them. Well, trust me. It was a horrible Query. And she took great joy in telling me (and the world) just how bad it was. But I also sent a cover letter with the Query. And, um, she said something different about that. Because the Query? It sucked. But she liked the style of the cover letter - and so did some other people who saw it. So I thought - what the heck. And I took that 'Voice', that style and - well. 'And' :-). I guess that's for you to judge :-). Over to y'all...

Much Ado About Dragons - The Book of the Idiot (Book 1)

Segorian Anderson’s an Idiot. But that’s fine with him. It’s a well paying job with no heavy lifting.

Nobody ever remembers Segorian. It isn’t magic—he just has the sort of face his own mother could forget, and she’s been trying to for years. But being forgettable is a job requirement for an Idiot.

No, he's not the Court Jester. He doesn’t wear motley (whatever motley may be). That's a different union. He’s the Idiot. In a Queen’s castle, wine spilt down the wrong dress can lead to war, so someone unimportant has to be blamed for it. That’s the Idiot’s job. He’s the Idiot that did it, for any value of ‘it’. Of course, as soon as he’s exiled-for-life out of the castle gate, he uses his back-door key and sneaks back in. But that's not all. Someday, something really bad will happen. Really, really bad. Badder than a bad thing on a very bad day with extra badness.

When your Top Guns are more Top Gones, when the world’s about to end (or the washing up won’t get done – whichever comes first), who you gonna call? No, not them. They haven’t been invented yet. You call the Idiot, so you can risk someone nobody will miss if things don’t work out. And now Peladon has a case of dragon...