The story of Prince Kal represents a slight change in direction for me.  This one is aimed to appeal to slightly younger children as well as my usual middle-grade audience.  So if you’re a fairly confident reader of seven or so, you’ll love this!

It is wonderfully illustrated by Harry Briggs, too.  I especially like the depiction of Kal on the front cover: Harry perfectly captures Kal’s slightly haughty – prince-like – frustration at being here on Earth!

The Unlikely Diary Of Prince Kal The Alien started off as a slightly different story.  Kal was a “regular” space alien finding his way on earth.

I soon realised, though, that I had already written a story about an alien ‘crash landing’ – The Kid Who Came From Space – and I did not really want to do another.  It was a bit frustrating.

I was watching a film when I had the idea.  The film was an adaptation of the children’s book, Ronja the Robber’s Daughter by Astrid Lindgren.  It is set in a fantasy world, where wizards and magic are taken for granted and it was this that made me think: why doesn’t Kal come from a world like that?

What if there was a world – a planet – where magic was real?  Where magic existed as a real force, and somehow a prince in that world ended up in our world, where magic is now dismissed as childish entertainment…?

The scope for comedy was good too, and so – armed with the idea of a somewhat pompous, magical young prince confronting 21^st century Britain – my new book came to life!