
How I became a publisher
I am delighted to welcome my friend and pony book expert Jane Badger to my blog today. In this guest post Jane, author of the pony book bible Heroines on Horseback: The Pony Book in Children's Fiction, describes how, after decades' collecting old pony books, she has begun re-publishing some as ebooks. The first one she has chosen to release in her new venture is Dream of Fair Horses by Patricia Leitch. I remember reading this when I was about twelve - the age of the protagoni

How thriller writer Lee Child helped me with the new Riverdale book...
Hello!
A common question authors are asked is where they find inspiration for their books.
The answer is, in my experience, everywhere and nowhere.
Everyday life offers rich pickings, and sometimes an idea for a plot can come from an item I’ve seen on the evening news, a snippet I’ve heard on the radio, a story I’ve read in the paper – or even an interesting-looking person sitting at the table next to me in my favourite café.
Sometimes ideas come to me while I’m dr

Win a box set of The Riverdale Pony Stories!
Hello!
To celebrate next week’s launch of the eighth Riverdale book, The Mystery of Riverdale Tor, I am holding a giveaway!
I am offering one lucky reader in the UK a chance to win a signed paperback copy of the first three Riverdale Pony Stories in one beautiful box set.
That’s The Lost Pony of Riverdale, Against all Hope and Into the Storm. Hours of reading pleasure!
And I will throw in some of my beautiful new bookmarks designed by the talented Mr Wills, too! Al

Better pack my bags - I'm going on a blog tour!
Hello!
Preparing for a book launch is always a hectic time, and because I want to make the launch of The Mystery of Riverdale Tor my best launch ever, I have a lot of fun stuff planned.
As you know, the book is already available to pre-order here, and will be released on Wednesday 20 March.
In the meantime, I am busy sending out review copies, planning promotions and organising a giveaway to celebrate the book’s publication.
One new thing I am trying for the first

New Riverdale book now available to pre-order!
***The Mystery of Riverdale Tor available to pre-order now!!***
Amazon.co.uk Amazon.com Hello!
Well, I wrote the first words on Friday 24 November 2018, and today, almost four months later, the eighth book in the Riverdale Pony Stories, The Mystery of Riverdale Tor, is available for pre-order on Amazon! It has been a much quicker process than its predecessor, The Hunt for the Golden Horse, which was 13 long months in the making, on and off.
So the writing of this one

Exclusive extract from new Riverdale story to celebrate World Book Day!
Hello!
Today is World Book Day and to celebrate here's an EXCLUSIVE extract from the new Riverdale book, The Mystery of Riverdale Tor.
So forget all your chores for a while, find a comfy spot, and dive right in! Charlie picked up the paperback copy of The Hound of the Baskervilles, smoothed the dog-eared cover and looked sidelong at Poppy. ‘You know what Thursday is?’ ‘The day after Wednesday and the day before Friday?’ Charlie tutted loudly. ‘It’s World Book Day, that’s

New Riverdale book - title and cover reveal!
Hello! I have some very exciting news to share today - I can finally reveal the title and cover of the new Riverdale book! And here it is...The Mystery of Riverdale Tor. Once again the cover has been designed by my super-talented husband Adrian. I spent an enjoyable few hours scrolling through hundreds of photos of grey horses to find the perfect picture, finally settling on this one. I felt it summed up Cloud’s free spirit and beauty perfectly. What d’you think? Last time I