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Haunters Release Day

Thursday, 24 May 2012

Haunters by the multi-talented Thomas Taylor is released as a paperback today. It's a supernatural YA adventure and a wonderful read.


I'm especially attached to the book as I was an early beta-reader. Back then it was called The Ghost Effect and it was already a whole lot of fun. It's great to see it finally hit the shelves.

As part of the celebrations and to help spread the word, Thomas kindly agreed to answer a few questions about the book:


Can you tell us the premise of Haunters?

David discovers he is a dreamwalker – someone who can travel to other places and times through his dreams, taking the form of a ghost as he does so. A rogue dreamwalker called Adam travels back to the year 1940 to use that same ghostliness to cause the death of a boy called Eddie, a boy who will grow up to be someone important in our own time. Killing Eddie will leave Adam powerful in the present, and only David can stop him. But David has a terrifying personal stake too – he’s Eddie’s grandson.

Haunters is an inverted ghost story, where it’s the living who are the ghosts, and the dead who are being haunted.  


Who's your favourite character in the book?

Although I like both my main character, David, and my villain, Adam, probably my favourite character is Petra. She is the experienced dreamwalker David develops a crush on, but she is also a tragic figure with a dark past. She introduces David (and therefore, the reader) to the world of dreamwalking and stands by him no matter what. But she is destined to pay heavily for this by the end.


Are there any thoughts of a follow-up?

Yes. And no. Haunters was deliberately written as a standalone book that could become the basis of a series. There is a second story partially plotted, but right now I’m working on something very different.

Time travel plot lines are fiendishly complicated, and I’m quite enjoying time away from them at the moment. However, that other story keeps coming to mind and demanding attention, so let’s see.


If you had to pick five keywords to tag the book with ...

Ghosts, Time-travel, History, Power, Dreamwalking


Which do you prefer - writing or drawing?

I wrote a blog post about this recently. The two are very different, so I like to alternate between them. I’m still trying to marry the two up, and I have another book coming out soon -- a comedy – with illustrated chapter headings. Doing both in a single book is immensely satisfying.



Thanks, Thomas! If anyone wants to read Haunters, it's available from Amazon here. Just be careful what you dream about ...

11 comments:

  1. I thought it was but another "go back in time" story until I read with interest that the dead are haunted by the living. That interested me enough to check it out further. Thanks.

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  2. Sounds like a really interesting book with a great twist. Thanks Simon for the interview, going to add Haunters to my to read list! (:

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  3. Hello Thomas, hello Simon!! Love the premise of this book - ghosts, dreamwalkers, dead people, Petra, potentially horrible ending for Petra and David...! Will definitely check this out! Thank you! Take care
    x

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  4. Jeremy - Excellent. You won't be disappointed.

    Elise - Great! Enjoy.

    Old Kitty - I can't, of course, reveal the ending. Only one way to find out ...

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  5. Great interview!

    It sounds like an interesting book; I've never heard of a story where the living haunt the dead. And I really like the cover.

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  6. I love the premise of the book! Sounds really intriguing. :)

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  7. Golden Eagle - It is a wonderful cover. The inside's good, too!

    Cherie - I'm sure Thomas will be delighted.

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  8. That sounds fascinating. I wish I'd thought of that.

    Congratulations on the release.

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  9. Deborah - it's a nice premise isn't it?

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  10. Thanks, Simon, for featuring me on your blog. And thanks, everyone else, for all the encouraging comments!

    Tha launch party was a blast. If I could dreamwalk, I'd go back and experience it all again. And turning up as a ghost at my own launch party would be pretty sensational too:)

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  11. Off to Amazon, I go. Thank you, sounds intriguing.

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I'd love to know what you think.