Candy Jar Books have announced four brand new stories in The Lucy Wilson Mysteries, the children-focussed series based around the exploits of the Brigadier's granddaughter.
The Ballad of the Borad
Written by Jonathan Macho
Cover and artwork by Steve Beckett
School trips are never simple when it comes to Lucy and Hobo. There’s always an adventure just around the corner.
Spending the day at Bristol Zoo, Lucy hopes to have a normal day out, but it’s not long before she realises the zoo has gone wild!
The animals have escaped and, Lucy’s no expert, but these animals aren’t quite what Lucy was expecting: a fish-bird, a cat-snake, a tortoise-spider and a huge, lumbering elephant-frog!
As Bristol Zoo welcomes visitors for the very last time in 2022, Lucy Wilson joins many other visitors in looking back at what makes the zoo special to her as she says a final goodbye.
Kick-starting the new quartet of adventures is fairly-new-to-the-scene author Jonathan Macho, with his short story The Ballad of the Borad, which is an action-packed tribute and farewell to the recently closed Bristol Zoo. Jonathan is an exciting new talent from Cardiff who’s first novel The Lucy Wilson Mysteries: The Serpent’s Tongue was very well received by fans of the series.
Jonathan said::
When Shaun asked me to pen a new story with Lucy and Hobo encountering the Borad and some animal hybrids at Bristol Zoo, it turned out to be a two-fold blessing. Not only did I get to spend more time with two characters I really love to write, but it gave me an excellent excuse to go to Bristol Zoo for ‘research’, just a few days before it closed down! The more I saw and learned about the Zoo and its history, the more clear it became that it was the perfect setting for a Lucy Wilson adventure. I hope I did such a special place justice.
The Invisible Women
Written by by John Peel
Cover and artwork by Steve Beckett
2020 has only just begun, and it already feels like it’s going to be full of back-to-back adventures as Lucy’s time ring sends her and Hobo on their second adventure of the year.
On arrival, our Ogmore-by-Sea teenage heroes have no idea where (or when) they are. They are just grateful that it isn’t lunchtime, as they crash land right in the middle of a dinner table surrounded by strange faces!
With invisible women lurking around every corner, how can they defeat someone when they can’t even see them? Add ghosts, ferocious fairies, Harry Houdini, HG Wells, and Sir Arthur Conan Doyle into the mix, and this is one strange time travelling escapade. But who is the monster behind this kaleidoscope of calamities, and why does it want Lucy’s time ring?
Lucy and Hobo are about to find out…
Popular author John Peel, writer of the third book in the Lucy Wilson series The Midnight People, returns with his second full-length novel The Lucy Wilson Mysteries: The Invisible Women, but there’s a twist - the new novel crosses over with the ongoing Lethbridge-Stewart spin-off series, Travers & Wells.
Range editor Andy Frankham-Allen says:
First it was The Brigadier and the Bledoe Cadets paired with Lucy Wilson and the Bledoe Cadets and now… When it came time to discuss what our next crossover would be, Shaun suggested Lucy meeting up with Edward Travers and HG Wells. Then came the old ‘who to write it’, which almost always results in Shaun suggesting John Peel. I was on board with that, and knew John would be up for the challenge…
In The Invisible Women, Lucy is transported back in time for an Edwardian adventure that includes ghosts, ferocious fairies, Harry Houdini and Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, as well as some irksome invisible women. On their adventure, Lucy and Hobo pair up with popular character in the Lethbridge-Stewart series Edward Travers and his companion HG Wells, in an attempt to stop the monster behind a kaleidoscope of calamities!
John said:
Writing the story was… interesting. The two books had to have separate plots that interlinked, and yet still made sense if read alone – which obviously took a bit of planning! And the last couple of chapters (the wrap-up) had to be the same, obviously, but told from two different perspectives. The only way I could imagine doing this was to write both books together as a single manuscript, so that I could be sure that the pacing worked out and the overlaps occurred at the same time in each tale, and then leave the two respective editors to disassemble the manuscript into two books. Hey, I wasn't going to do all of the work! I was expecting the process to be challenging, but because the editors and I had worked it out beforehand, it actually proved to be a lot smoother and easier than I had feared. And also a great deal more fun.
The Mystery of Lucy Wilson: Memories of the Future
Written by George Ivanoff
Cover and artwork by Steve Beckett
Melbourne, 1985. Matty is just an ordinary boy having an ordinary evening, browsing for books in his favourite sci-fi shop. Until he meets a girl. A girl who appears out of thin air, into a locked room, and can’t remember who she is or where she came from.
And then Matty’s day gets slightly less ordinary when he encounters time-travelling killer plant people from outer space.
For Matty to put things right, he must work out who his new friend Lucy Wilson is, and why he is suddenly not so ordinary.
Following on directly from The Invisible Women is The Mystery of Lucy Wilson: Memories of the Future by George Ivanoff, which is the first book in a three-part time travel adventure set in Australia.
George said:
The main theme of the book is memories. Lucy has travelled to Melbourne, Australia, in 1985 but has lost most of her memories. She can’t remember where or when she came from, or even who she is. Particularly important are the lost memories of her grandfather, Brigadier Lethbridge-Stewart. In 1985, she befriends a boy named Matty who also has repressed memories. Weaving all those memories into the story as they begin to be reclaimed was the concept that inspired the novel.
Much of the book’s setting is based around my own teenage years. I grew up in the suburbs of Melbourne, Australia. The library and lifesaving club mentioned in the book were places that I used to ride my bike to. And, just like the characters in this book, in 1985 I attended Aussiecon 2, the 43rd World Science Fiction Convention, as Melbourne was the host city. It was heaps of fun, taking these elements from my formative years, and weaving them into Memories of the Future.
Fans of The Lucy Wilson Mysteries may notice the change in the series title to The Mystery of Lucy Wilson for this three-part instalment, because Lucy Wilson truly is a mystery to both herself and her new friends, but Lucy is not the only mystery in this story!
George continued:
I was really excited when I was told that I’d be able to use UNIT. in Memories of the Future. I ended up giving UNIT. an Australian branch. In my mind, they are off having other adventures around Australia now that Lucy has returned to her own place and time.”
The Mystery of Lucy Wilson: Rampage of the Drop Bears
Written by Baz Greenland
Cover and artwork by Steve Beckett
Melbourne, 1985. Fred’s best friend Matty has vanished. And now he’s found a new friend, Lucy Wilson.
Lucy doesn’t remember much about herself, but what she does know is that she’s from the future. But time travel isn’t possible, is it?
Aliens, drop bears on a rampage, a Pleistocene safari, a trip to Sydney Olympic Stadium in 2000, and a vicious baby running riot through time. Will Lucy and Fred ever be able to restore the timeline, or has their life as they knew it changed forever?
And last in the newly released quartet is The Mystery of Lucy Wilson: Rampage of the Drop Bears by Baz Greenland, which is the second book in the three-part time travel adventure set in Australia.
Baz said:
What better inspiration for a kid’s story than evil Koala Bears? I had so much fun stepping into the world of Lucy Wilson, and throwing her into a time travel adventure with one of Australia's greatest mythical monsters, the legendary drop bears!
Lucy finds herself back in Melbourne in 1985 and she still doesn’t know who she is or where and when she’s come from! All she does know is that her time ring seems to be defunct and she’s being taken on an even bigger adventure than she’s ever been on before.
Baz continued:
It's Gremlins meets a tour through Australia's rich history – from a trip to the Pleistocene era through to the 2000 Sydney Olympics. It was an honour to follow up a wonderful story by George Ivanoff and I hope Rampage of the Drop Bears delights fans, young and old!
The Invisible Women, The Battle of the Borad, Memories of the Future and Rampage of the Drop Bears are all available to pre-order via the Candy Jar shop and will be posted out at the end of October.
The third book in the Mystery of Lucy Wilson trilogy will conclude next year.
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