4 minute read
AN EXCLUSIVE INTERVIEW WITH AWARD-WINNING AUTHOR, DANIEL WARLOCH
Please tell us a little about yourself and your background.
I started work in the printing industry at the tender age of 15, as an apprentice hot metal compositor. The apprenticeship lasted 6 years and from then on, I held many senior positions in the industry, such as Production Manager to Operations Director, working closely with a number of ‘blue chip’ customers, such as Avon Cosmetics, British Telecom, British Gas and the BBC, to name just a few.
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I am now retired and living very close to Liverpool in the UK with my wife, June. I have two grown-up sons and two grandsons.
They say that there is a book in everyone? Well, I was 60 when I began writing 9/11: Official Complicity by Michael Rowland.
My children’s novels and short stories are written under the pen name of Daniel M Warloch (anagram of Michael Rowland). The reason for the pen name is because I didn’t want to associate a serious novel with my children’s work.
Your very first book, 9/11: Official Complicity, was targeted towards adults and then you began writing children’s stories. What is it about children’s adventures that you enjoy more?
After writing and self-publishing 9/11: Official Complicity, I was hooked. I would like to proudly add, that the book has been endorsed by Dr. David Ray Griffin. DRG is the leading exponent of 9/11 and has been nominated twice for the Nobel Peace Prize.
My first children’s novel was Leap Year, and the spooky house mentioned in the book was a house that I lived close to when I was six years old, and it stuck in my mind all that time. After that I wrote Christmas Presence and then the first in the Jake Hollywood series.
You asked me what is it about children’s adventures that I enjoy? Well as I say on my web site ... “In the eyes of a child, the world is an enchanting place, and that is the reason I didn’t grow up.” Having said that, I do love reading children’s books. Basically, I’m just a big kid at heart.
Children of all ages have a great imagination, and I hope I can copy them. And it’s when I visit schools and do book signings; I know I am doing something right from the response I get, and especially from the children I meet who tell me how much they enjoy reading my books.
You may be interested to know, I also have the second and third in the Leap Year series in manuscript form
Tell us about your Holly KissKiss series, what age they are targeted towards and what they teach young readers.
The Holly KissKiss series have been written to help young children with learning difficulties and on the spectrum. Also for children of all ages, not on the spectrum, making them aware what it is like to have autism. I have been told by a number of children and parents that I write in pictures, which is gratifying because when I do write the stories, I always imagine the story flashing like a movie in front of me.
My dream is to be offered a book deal
and the publisher, publish all of the Holly series as a picture book. And I am delighted to announce that Rudolph’s Little Helper has now been published on Amazon USA and UK as a picture book with the illustrations done by Joshua Mitchell-Taylor.
You wrote The Key to Survival, a vividly descriptive historical fiction about the Titanic, targeted towards middle-school age children and up. Can you tell us more about the novel and what prompted you to write it?
Good question. I wanted to combine historical fact with an edge-of-the- seat fiction children’s novel. The idea about the background to the story and the main character – Jake Hollywood came to me one morning. I do have a vivid imagination.
I won’t give anything away, but there are a number of clues throughout the story, which will be made clearer once the series comes to an end.
I am fortunate, living close to Liverpool, where the Titanic exhibition is on show at the Maritime Museum. I spent many hours researching about the fateful liner and I hope when you read the book you will get a feeling of what it must have been like on the Titanic.
So as the synopses says on the back of the back cover ... “So book your ticket, board the doomed ship, and find out if Jake will be able to change history, or find out why he was chosen to be transported back in time, as the Titanic crosses the Atlantic Ocean, on its way to New York...”
My brother, Andrew Rowland, designed the cover.
The Key to Survival is a very engaging way to teach children about historical events and ends with quite the twist. Is there a second book in the works, and if so, when can we expect it out?
Yes there is a second book, which is in manuscript form. I am currently putting the finishing touches to it, and I hope to publish it very soon. I also have the third in the series in manuscript form, and the idea for the fourth one. I really enjoyed writing The Key to Survival, researching the facts, especially the tons of food they had to store and the vast amount of champagne on board.
Since a young age, I have always been interested in history, so by writing this series, I’m learning a great deal I didn’t know before, and I hope when the children read this series, they may also learn something new?
