Katherine Roberts

Hello everyone! I've been writing fantasy stories since I was seven years old, but it was another 30 years before my debut novel was picked off the slush pile by Harry Potter editor Barry Cunningham. Song Quest  went on to win the UK's inaugural  Branford Boase Award  (2000), and  has since enjoyed several later editions with Chicken House, Scholastic US, and Catnip, becoming the first book in a fantasy trilogy known as the Echorium Sequence. You can find out more about this book and other fiction I've written by exploring the menu links above. PS> I am a real human author! None of the books featured on this site were written by AI.

Love audiobooks? Then I have some good news! You can now listen to my short tale of Queen Boudicca for older readers 'Empire of the Hare' on Audible. You will need about half an hour to listen to the whole story, which is just perfect for a coffee break. Audible or get it from Amazon This story of the British warrior queen's last stand against the Roman invaders was shortlisted for the Library of Avalon's Geoffery Ashe Prize on its first publication in 1998. It is narrated by her eldest daughter Ralla, and blends history with fantasy to tackle challenging themes. Listen to a sample Like most of my shorter fiction, this one was originally published for adults and is therefore not suitable for younger readers. Keep an eye on this site for more audiobooks soon.

  * Wishing all my readers a very happy and creative New Year * I painted this unicorn and her rider for the front cover of my Spellfall sequel, Spell Spring. Find out more about these books on the Earthaven page . 

According to the National Literacy Trust, kids (particularly boys) are not reading for pleasure these days, preferring to get their thrills from films and online games instead. In response, Faber have launched a competition to find action-packed, filmic books for this readership. If they had not already been published, I might have entered some of mine, which are tried and tested to suit the target readership. The good news is that you can still get hold of these books! Paperbacks and ebook editions (for both Kindle and epub) are currently available, so if you have a young action fan in the family there's still plenty of time to order before Christmas. Here are my top picks for the Action Prize, had it existed back when I wrote these books. The Seven Fabulous Wonders (first published in the UK by HarperCollins) is a seven book series featuring magic and adventure in the ancient world. The books are complete stories that can be read in any order, and the following titles feature a y...

Good news! You can now listen to my second novel  Spellfall  in audiobook format, thanks to Apple's audio project using digital narrators. The complete book is about 8 hours long and costs about the same as a cup of coffee. You can listen to a free sample here . SPELLFALL audiobook Both of my Earthaven titles -  Spellfall and the sequel Spell Spring -  are also available in paperback and ebook. Collectors of my work might still be able to find a secondhand copy of the original 2001 hardcover edition of Spellfall, published in the UK by Chicken House and in the US by Scholastic. Scholastic US edition Find out more about these books on the Earthaven page .

With all the stormy weather we've been having this winter, we definitely need a spell for spring... so here it is! Spell Spring * only 99p/99c until 1st May * This long-awaited sequel to  Spellfall celebrates the Blossoming, when the giant soultrees of Earthaven burst into flower. Unlike trees in our world (which are fertilised by insects such as bees or beetles), Earthaven's blossoms need to be fertilised by unicorn dust before the soultrees can bear fruit to produce new spells. As you can imagine, unicorn dust is rare even in Earthaven, and must be collected by the treemages who care for the soultrees, making this a vulnerable time for the trees. The Council of the soultree known as Oq will not be at full strength until Natalie finishes school in our world, and meanwhile the evil Lord Hawk has escaped from the Thrallstone where he was imprisoned at the end of Spellfall and is coming for his revenge... Join Natalie and her friends as they race to complete Oq's power before...

Midwinter the fairy host did ride, souls of men to their saddles tied, when brave Rhianna challenged their lord to a bloodless duel for the Sword. "Rhianna Pendragon, it's time for you to choose, " Lord Avallach said. "You can ride your fairy horse back to Avalon with us now, or you can choose to stay in the world of men with your own people. But be warned. If you stay, you might never see your father again." A shiver went through her. "But surely my father will return to Camelot when he is reborn?" She rested her hand on Excalibur's white jewel. Just let him try lying to her. The Avalonian lord tightened his lips. "The mists are thickening. The dark powers of Annwn grow stronger every day. Even the Hunt found the way difficult this year. No, my child. Arthur will remain with us for many years yet." As Rhianna tried to think, they heard twigs snapping in the trees behind them and shrill voices in the distance. She thought she heard Cai ca...

Download the first three 'Hoofprints' (chapters) of my most popular novel  I am the Great Horse -  free for epub! Prince of Macedonia If you enjoy these chapters, you can read the rest of Alexander the Great's epic story straight from the horse's mouth in either paperback or ebook: I am the Great Horse (age 12 - adult) I am the Great Horse  was first published in hardcover (2006) by Scholastic US, and in paperback (2007) by Chicken House UK. For original covers and more details of this book, see Historical Horses .

Wishing all my readers a magical festive season! If you haven't met King Arthur's daughter and her fairy horse, here's a free Kindle prequel story for you to download and read over the holidays. Horse of Mist (free for Kindle) And if you enjoy this short story, the good news is there are four full-length novels (available as both ebook and paperback) featuring Rhianna Pendragon and her friends, as they set out on a quest for the four magical Lights that can defeat the evil Prince Mordred and bring her father back from the dead. More details on The Pendragon Legacy  page.

I can hardly believe it has been 22 years since I nervously climbed up on a stage in London before the great and good of UK children's publishing to receive the inaugural Branford Boase Award from Jacqueline Wilson, one of the judges that year. Song Quest plus Branford Boase Award My editor Barry Cunningham, who famously discovered JK Rowling's Harry Potter, also received an award to recognise his role in shaping my debut novel for publication. Barry has since gone on to win several more BB awards for other winning debuts published by Chicken House, and I have gone on to write several more books for readers aged 10+. You can find them all on this site. More about Song Quest and its sequels here: https://reclusivemuse.blogspot.com/p/echorium-sequence.html

  January special offer! Download the ebook of my latest historical novel "The Horse Who Would Be Emperor" for only 99p / 99c. Kindle epub (Apple, Kobo, Nook or other store of your choice) paperback also available.

 King Arthur's daughter Rhianna Pendragon would like to wish all her readers a magical festive season!  Free short story Horse of Mist Find out more about the Pendragon series  click here .

The trees are turning gold, and the world seems just a little bit more magical at this time of year. There might be a good reason for that enchanted feeling. Did you know that trees can communicate underground via their roots, and will even send help if one of their number needs nourishment or is threatened? This is known as the  Wood Wide Web  and was the concept behind my 2000 novel SPELLFALL, where the trees in my parallel world of Earthaven are gigantic soultrees that bear magical fruit and seeds. Spellfall (first US edition) Their root system acts rather like the London Underground, and it's possible to travel around it in living capsules, operated by the trees themselves, known as 'organazoomers'. The soultrees and the Spell Lords who look after them can also use this root system to communicate, much as we might use the internet in our technological world. But that's not the whole story... those who have Earthaven blood, like Spellfall's heroine Natalie and he...

 For those of you who are curious about debut books and authors, this is how it all started for me. My first book  Song Quest  was originally published in 1999 by Element Books, and went on to win the inaugural  Branford Boase Award , presented annually to the author and editor of an outstanding debut novel for young readers published in the UK that year. Song Quest (Element Books, 1999) and my very own Branford Boase Award When Element Books became part of a larger company, Song Quest was republished by its Branford Boase Award winning editor Barry Cunningham's new children's fiction venture, The Chicken House. Song Quest (Chicken House, 2001) The book was also published in America by Scholastic US, working with Chicken House to bring Song Quest and its sequels Crystal Mask and Dark Quetzal to a fresh overseas YA audience. Song Quest (Scholastic US, 2002) A few years passed, with a few foreign editions along the way, before the book finally went out of print ...

Emperor Caligula's favourite racehorse Incitatus "the Swift" eats gold for breakfast, attends the Senate, and has 18 slaves to look after him... and that was just the start of his rise to fame. Read the incredible story of the horse who became heir to the Roman Empire! Now available in paperback from Amazon. The Horse Who Would Be Emperor paperback UK paperback US For more great horse stories, see  https://reclusivemuse.blogspot.com/p/i-am-great-horse.html

Following in the hoof prints of my Alexander the Great novel  I am the Great Horse , I'm delighted to announce the publication of a brand new novel telling the story of another famous horse from history... meet Roman challenger, Incitatus the Swift! Incitatus - the horse who would be Emperor Emperor Caligula's favourite racehorse eats gold for breakfast, attends the Senate, and has 18 slaves to look after him. When Caligula names Incitatus heir to the throne, the horse's stylist Livia and young charioteer Marcus are caught up in a plot to assassinate the mad emperor and restore the Republic to Rome. Livia is sentenced to death fighting tigers, while Marcus must risk life and limb in the Circus Maximus. Only Incitatus can save them... but how can a horse be Emperor of Rome? Find out in this action-packed adventure set in 1st century Rome, on special offer for Kindle until 1st May. The Horse Who Would Be Emperor * SPECIAL LAUNCH OFFER * Kindle edition only 99p / 99c paperback...

Since we are now back in lockdown (for the third time), and the only fun journeys we can make are imaginary ones, I have another special offer for young readers. Book 1 of my Pendragon Legacy series Sword of Light is now only 99p for Kindle! SWORD OF LIGHT https://www.amazon.co.uk/Sword-Light-Pendragon-Legacy-Book-ebook/dp/B08776B5SQ/ Join King Arthur's daughter Rhianna Pendragon and her friends on a quest for her father's sword Excalibur, and discover a new series for young readers set in a time of enchantment when Britain faced both invaders and dark forces. The series continues with three more titles, all available in ebook and paperback. https://reclusivemuse.blogspot.com/p/sword-of-light-blog-tour.html

WPA packhorse librarians, Kentucky, 1935-ish (image: public domain )   This year, we've all come to appreciate what is essential to our lives - and it's not always what the government thinks. Yes, we all need food, and sometimes we need medicine. But books are also essential items in my view, and so are libraries - without my local library, I might never have become a reader or a writer, and my world would be much smaller. You can travel through the pages of a book, as well as learn things Google can't tell you. Another essential part of my childhood was the local riding stable, where I spent my weekends helping in the yard in return for rides, and horses have been an important part of my life ever since. The two activities work well together: one outdoors and active with an element of risk, the other indoors and involving sitting for long periods, if fairly risk-free. Usually, I manage to combine these two passions in the pages of my books. I am the Great Horse , for exam...

November is never exactly fun, and this year we have a second lockdown to make it hardly worth the 30 days on a calendar. My writing room calendar has a rather weary-looking unicorn making its slow way through the stars, and I feel much the same myself.  Seems the best method of escape this month is through the pages of a book, which can whisk you through the back of a wardrobe into Narnia, out to the stars, back in time to ancient Rome, into the future, or into someone else's head. In a book, you can be a hero or a heroine, ride a horse over the mountains, fly on a dragon's back, win all your battles, and eat cake even if all the cafes are shut.  And if - the unicorn forbid - you run out of books to read, why not write your own? Because, with perfect timing for lockdown-take-two, it's National Novel Writing Month! Or, for those in the know, NaNoWriMo. National Novel Writing Month began in 1999 as a daunting but straightforward challenge: to write 50,000 words of a novel du...

It's been a tough year for many people, and things were pretty tough in publishing even before the dreaded virus and its associated emergency rules locked down half the world. The latest casualty of this summer is the small but passionate UK publisher of historical fiction, Greystones Press, which has sadly now closed its doors, taking my YA Genghis Khan novel  Bone Music  out of print, along with all the other books published by them. Readers might gain briefly from this, since you can still get these books from third party sellers at a reasonable price - but be quick if you want one, because there won't be any more printed! BONE MUSIC (Greystones Press 2018 edition) As someone whose debut novel was published back in 1999, I'm no stranger to my books going out of print. Books have their season and publishers move on - unless the book happens to be Harry Potter, of course, when publishers cling on to the rights and issue new editions for decades, but unfortunately for my ba...