THIS year looks set to be another incredibly busy one for author and Bob the Builder designer Curtis Jobling.
The former Penketh High School pupil kicked off 2012 with the release of his third book in the Wereworld series Shadow of the Hawk on Thursday, before he starts work on his new role as patron of the Warrington Wolves Charitable Foundation Children’s University.
The 39-year-old said: “The third book continues to follow the adventures of teen werewolf Drew and each chapter ends with a cliffhanger.
“I have had a thick diet of Star Wars and Dungeons and Dragons and it was things like that have inspired me.
“It feels like you have to raise the stakes in each one of the novels in the series and the stories have to be bigger each time.”
The fantasy horror tale follows the success of Curtis’ first book Rise of the Wolf, which was shortlisted for the Waterstones Children’s Book prize and was launched by publisher Puffin in America in the autumn.
The second book, Rage of Lions, is due for release in spring across the Atlantic.
The dad-of-four added: “The first book has caused a real stir at Comic-Con in San Diego (a comic book convention) and has picked up some great reviews.
“There has been movie interest too but that’s at an early stage.”
The books have appealed to teenagers across the country but also a large number of adult readers leading to Curtis starting work on novels for an older audience.
A manuscript Curtis refers to as the ‘pink Potter’ is his latest project but he will have to juggle working on that with hit Cbeebies show Raa Raa the Noisy Lion after the BBC requested a further 52 episodes and running workshops with the Wolves Foundation over the next 12 months.
l Curtis will be signing books at Waterstones, Golden Square, today Saturday from 12pm to 3pm.
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