About me – Signs of a bipolar episode

Patricia grew from strength to strength. After a few months she left the Avril Elizabeth home for the disabled and started grade 10 at school. She was quite behind with her work and was tutored until she had caught up with the other pupils. She adapted and did fairly well at school. Patricia went on to complete her 10^th grade. Well at least she almost completed it. A month before her final exams she relapsed and experienced a full blown psychotic episode. She told the vice principal of the school that she was a detective and she was investigating criminal activity in the school. The vice principal handled her with care and admitted her to hospital.

I can still remember the gossip, how everybody was discussing this freak at Sunward Park High. It was really embarrassing for me being her brother, and people were even treating me differently.

Sadly Patricia always seemed to develop a resistance to the medication. The illness always evolved and formed a new strain. She had been diagnosed with so many different forms of the disease to the point that nobody knew what her exact condition was. Thankfully Patricia was given a pass on her grade 10 because of her previous annual results.

At the same time I was in grade 8. I achieved well at school and when I was fourteen I experienced a long period of depression. This was the first time I had ever felt this way and it was a dark and cold place with very little relief found in whatever I did to try and escape it. It was a difficult time for me and my school grades depreciated. I tried to cope with the overwhelming heaviness that I was trying to overcome, but soon felt that it was far easier to just give up.

It was an intense pain at the pit of my stomach like an overwhelming heaviness dragging me down. It wasn’t a case of feeling sorry for myself because my life could not have been more perfect at the time. It was as if my focus was taken from the daylight and placed in a black tunnel of doom. I felt hopeless and longed for my death.

My mother was gravely concerned. She could detect the first signs of mental illness dragging me down to the pit. She took me to see a psychologist and he talked me through my feelings. The dog could have barked me through my feelings for all that was going to help. The psychologist said that he did not want to medicate me; he first wanted to see if things would improve.

I can remember that the depression lasted for exactly eight weeks and just as suddenly as I felt that way the depression lifted and vanished. It was like a chemical imbalance that radically altered my mood.

An epic adventure novel series for teens and adults.

When I was a boy of about nine years old I soon developed a taste for reading. We never had Sony Playstation or incredible animated adventure movies to watch. I remember some of my favourites were Enid Blyton’s Adventure novels and mystery novels. I even enjoyed The Famous Five and Secret Seven. I used to escape into these stories and loved to take a journey with these characters. Some of the other stories I enjoyed were Bobby Brewster and the extraordinary things that happened to him, as well as Billy Bunter. These were the old classic children’s stories and they all revolved around the unusual and interesting behaviour of school children.

The story I have developed with Green Planet and Green Planet Under Fire also revolves around school children and their ways.

When I was young I would have loved nothing more than to get my hands on a copy of my latest book. It comes highly recommended to all young people and even adults as well. The story is fast, interesting and funny. It brims over with new concepts and entertaining ideas.

Emmaline Sawyer is one of the characters that gets captured by Azor the evil flower fairy on Green Planet. Emma is a compulsive liar and is cleverly taken care of by Azor. For every lie that she tells a new branch or twig would sprout from her body. Emma could not resist the urge to lie and pretty soon she had taken on the form of a colourful bush.

There are several events on Green Planet that occur quite the same as this one which makes the story bizarre and riveting. There is a portal in Chimzen the wizard’s tree house where the characters move between to teleport to Green Planet and back to earth. It is a lovely mixture of a foreign planet combined with the normal day to day events on earth.

If your children love reading I can highly recommend this epic fantasy series for them to enjoy.

About me – Love and patience heals all things

So Patricia had spent many months in Weskoppies. She had deteriorated even more and was at the point where all she did was sit and stare into space. The doctors told my mother that it would be best for her to forget about the fact that she had a daughter and leave Patricia be. She was the equivalent of somebody that was brain-damaged, who would never amount to anything.

My mother would never accept that though and insisted on the hospital releasing her daughter. The doctor asked my mother to reconsider, but she would hear nothing more about it.

It was a tough time for all of us as a family now that Patricia was home. I was petrified that she would go all crazy on us again and rip up the furniture. That was not going to happen though; Patricia was close to catatonic that she could barely move a limb. She literally sat in a chair all day long and stared at the ceiling.

My mother was in a desperate situation and tried everything in her power to bring Patricia around, but it was hopeless, she would not respond. My mother had to help dress and bath her in the beginning, until eventually she could at least do that much.

There was nowhere to take Patricia during the day and my mother had no idea what to do with her. My mother had to go to work and she did not like the idea of leaving her at home. So she decided to take my sister to the Avril Elizabeth home for the disabled.

The staff at Avril Elizabeth did not take too kindly to the idea of my sister spending time there, but my mother begged them to have her. They agreed on the grounds that if there was any trouble Patricia was to leave immediately.

So that was where Patricia stayed during the day. The first few months my sister did very little other than stare into space. There were several good nurses on staff at the home and they encouraged Patricia daily to try and help them with a few small things.

Gradually Patricia responded to the patient love she was shown and started helping out at the home with a few things.

As the time passed Patricia slowly progressed back to her normal self. She started assisting with the mentally handicapped children and before very long she became an asset to the home.

My brother, Grant suffered with cerebral palsy and also attended at the Avril Elizabeth. My mother used to fetch Patricia and Grant from there in the afternoon and Patricia would always go on excitedly about how she had helped the children.

So when the doctor tells you that there is no hope for your son or daughter, always remember that the hope that you have for your children is all the hope that they will ever need.  

About Me – My Holiday

Just returned from a three week holiday out in Grahamstown in the Eastern Cape. Had the most wonderful time with family. First we went to Oudshoorn and travelled to the Kango caves from there. What a spectacular tourist destination. The caves were like something out of a creepy horror movie, yet the inside features were incredibly fascinating to look at.

We proceeded to take a trip through the garden route, what an absolutely awesome scenic journey. Gazing across at the massive stretches of snow capped mountains and awesome epic sheer drops into the valley. I have definitely drawn inspiration from this trip for my next epic fantasy adventure novel.

We travelled all the way to Hermanus where we stayed for a few days. The houses along the main road running through the town were massive and it became clear to me that most of the people residing in this neighbourhood were extremely wealthy. Even though I could not afford a house like one of these, I soaked up the beautiful scenery for a moment and pretended that one of these holiday homes was mine.

Then we were off to Cape Town and from there we journeyed back up along the coastline. Now Cape Town has to be such an incredible place to live. The entire city is like a massive utopia with age old trees towering over the houses.  When I was young I lived in Cape Town and never had much of an appreciation of this wonderful city. But now I can’t believe how spectacular it is with those incredible mountains high up in the background.

Our scenic journey took us past George, Knysna and Plettenburg bay. To be away from these beautiful long sandy beaches for such a long period made it most enjoyable to make sand castles with my nephews and splash in the icy sea. The scenery along the way was breathtaking. I think we must have documented an entire episode of National Geographic with the footage that we took. The Tsitsikamma forests were fascinating to look at with their endless rows of conifer trees. We passed the most beautiful bridges along the route with a sheer drop of over 200M’s. Bloukrans with a sheer drop of about 230M. To think that people actually bunjee jump off that one. Totally insane.

From there it was back up to Port Elizabeth and back to Grahamstown. It was a tiresome journey at times with the endless kilometres that we travelled, but the epic scenery and the great company more than made up for that.

Oh well, I’m back at home in sunny Johannesburg only wishing to be back there again. Those good times always seem to go by so quickly.

Green Planet Under Fire – Official release of my second epic fantasy adventure book

The time has finally arrived for the official release of my epic fantasy adventure book sequel, Green Planet Under Fire. It is a very exciting time for me as an author, knowing that the Green Planet series is going to bring tremendous success.

I have read the first instalment of Green Planet several times and it always manages to take me away to that faraway magical place. It is somewhat strange that my novel can have that effect on me as the author, but it is written with such vivid detail that it immediately pulls me into this incredible place. This land filled with magical flower fairies, wizards, druids, strange plant creatures and magical balls.

Now with the second magical adventure, Green Planet Under fire, the adventure occurs rapidly and the story comes across as clearly as an epic movie. Even for those that don’t enjoy reading as a pastime, this book is an exception; it will grab your attention and keep you riveted from the start.

If you don’t take a chance on it now, you will definitely do so in the near future, so why not be one of the first to experience this fun filled adrenalin pumped adventure of your lifetime.

My epic fantasy novel will appeal to just about anybody, young or old.

Green Planet Under Fire is here....

About me – Life in an institution

Patricia spent months in a lock up ward at Weskoppies hospital. I had not seen her for quite some time and still felt glad that she was gone. Home was a far more comfortable place now that she wasn’t going on with her nonsense.

After about a month my mother convinced Tracy and myself to come along and visit Patricia. We were both quite reluctant at first, but we finally agreed. On the way to the hospital I could feel that my tummy was filled with butterflies and I was feeling quite scared.

It was over an hour’s drive to the other side of Pretoria. We entered the premises through a large set of gates. The surrounding fence was covered on top with barbed wire and the institution looked like a prison.

Once inside the premises we headed across to my sisters ward. The ward itself was a lock up with high fences and barbed wire. A woman opened the entrance gate for us and she looked quite rough. She could have been mistaken for a man.

We walked inside the building towards the dormitory area. The rooms were dark and smelled quite miff. The beds had been neatly made but it appeared as though there was a shortage of space and the beds were almost positioned on top of each other.

Patricia appeared from the corner of the room and looked like a scarecrow. I remember jumping back in fright. She had lost a great deal of weight and her face was pale. She was very heavily medicated and she was drooling at the mouth. She grabbed hold of my mother and started sobbing. I felt sorry for her and placed my hand on her shoulder.

The female warden escorted us outside and locked the dormitory door. She joked with my sister about her having visitors. My sister forced a shaky smile.

According to Patricia the warden was actually a patient as well, and she was also a lesbian. That didn’t make much sense to me. It was only a few minutes later that I realized that Patricia was very sick and was not making any sense at all. She seemed so far gone; I thought there was absolutely no hope for her. She looked much worse off than she did when she was first admitted. A side of me felt glad, as I was not ready for her to come home.

7 Days before the release of an epic magical fantasy story

Green Planet Under Fire, my epic magical fantasy story was written with such a tremendous passion that my very inner being was ‘Under Fire.’

It was a mammoth project with a maze of complex fantasy sequences to try and solve. From shining blue schoolboys to deadly Spincrick spiders. Fire reigns down on the great Green Planet causing massive devastation. Incredible wizardry conventions with every perceivable witch and warlock present. Great feats of magic are performed like nothing seen on earth before. The crowds jump up and cheer in disbelief.  To create something so magical and so totally bizarre that it will capture ones attention from the very start. I am overwhelmed with such excitement and I am bursting with pride over my epic novel for teenagers. It truly feels to me as though this magical adventure was somehow given to me. It was like riding a tremendous wave of unique ideas and dazzling thoughts. Like frantically painting a large canvas with bright colours and watching a brilliant picture unfold.

Monday the 11^th of April, 2011, let the magic begin.

About me – More trauma from a psychotic episode

I was spending an afternoon at a friend’s house after school and my sister Tracy was also visiting a friend. When I arrived home late that afternoon my mother was busy vacuuming the carpet. Patricia was home and lay on the couch with her feet up against the wall. She was behaving strangely as usual and swore at me as I walked inside the lounge.

Quite suddenly I noticed that the curtains had all been cut in half. I was so nervous around Patricia I never noticed it at first. Then to my horror I noticed that all three of the windows in the lounge had been smashed. Like somebody had missed the main centre window trying to break in, and had smashed both of the side windows by mistake.

Patricia insisted that somebody had broken into the house before she had come home and that it was already in a mess when she arrived there.

To make matters worse the lounge furniture had also been slashed to pieces with a scissors. It was sheer vandalism and my mother knew very well that Roslyn had convinced Patricia that that was the right thing for her to do in her twisted way of thinking. I was feeling really afraid and had no idea of what to make of my sister’s strange behaviour.

Tracy arrived home shortly after me and she looked horrified at the sight of the lounge. She confronted Patricia about what had happened but Patricia flatly denied having anything to do with the mess. My mother was unsure of how to handle the situation and decided to report the incident to the police. They arrived about half an hour later and my mother told them that her daughter was very ill.

Patricia disappeared into her bedroom, realizing that she might be in serious trouble. In her mind we were all plotting against her, and she believed that we wanted to see her destroyed.

One of the policemen knocked on her bedroom door and asked if he could have a word with her. She screamed out loudly telling the policemen to go to hell. This was when they realized that she was not well.

The policemen in charge immediately phoned for an ambulance and they must have arrived at our house in about fifteen minutes. Patricia was dragged out of her bedroom literally kicking and screaming. One of the policemen joined her inside the ambulance to try and keep her calm. I felt quite sorry for the poor man, my sister was a handful.

The ambulance siren sounded deafening as the vehicle rolled out of our driveway.  Patricia was off to Weskoppies mental institution, a hospital where patients were locked up for their own protection. I breathed a big sigh of relief as I watched her go.

About me – The trauma of a psychotic episode

I argued with my mother and demanded that she must take my sister away from us. I told her that Patricia was mental and that she might even try and murder us. My mother was obviously upset and told me to keep quiet. We waited in anticipation for Patricia to return home. I wanted to run away, but there was nowhere for me to go.

Patricia never returned home that afternoon and my mother was starting to panic. Patricia had made a new friend a couple of weeks back and her name was Roslyn. My mother had heard that Roslyn had recently been looked up in jail for petty theft and other minor offenses. She was a big woman in her mid-twenties and she was a bad influence on my sister in her current state of mind. My sister was only a teenager.  It was bad enough that Patricia was full-blown psychotic, now she was mixing with the unstable people as well.

The term psychotic tends to place fear into a person when they are not educated about mental illness. Usually when a person is gentle by nature, the worst that they do when they are mentally ill (psychotic) is become verbally abusive and violent. Violent meaning they may break things. Or they may overdose on tablets with the belief that they are invincible. A common occurrence with people that are schizophrenic or bipolar is that they may even develop the God complex during an extreme high. They believe that they are superhuman, and that way they become a danger to themselves. I am no expert on the topic; I only speak from personal experience.

My mother was desperate and searched the neighbourhood for my sister. After a couple of hours she spotted Patricia outside a small shopping complex up the road from us. She was sitting next to Roslyn and my mother could hear the swear words flying. My mother felt as though she was the enemy and called Patricia to come with her. Roslyn whispered something into her ear and they both grinned.

When Patricia arrived back home it went from a bad dream to a nightmare. She was extremely paranoid and afraid of us. Believe me we were much more afraid than she was. I was shaking with fear. She would scream and swear at us and smash her dinner plate against the wall. Then when she had had enough of us she charged out the front door. My mother screamed after her, demanding that she come back. My mother was desperate and did not know how to deal with her behaviour.

Patricia marched off to her friend Roslyn again, and this time my mother didn’t try and stop her. The next day we all went to work and school, my mother didn’t sleep at all the previous night, she was in a state of shock. We were all confused and did not know how to deal with things.

“Living a life of integrity is one of the greatest missions we can undertake.” Greg Anderson

Green Planet Under Fire – About My Epic Teenage Fantasy Adventure Novel

The days are counting down before the release of the second book in the Green Planet series. On the 11^th of April 2011 Green Planet Under Fire will be hitting the shelves worldwide. This is a very exciting time for me as an author as my dreams become a reality. But what is all the excitement about, who cares about this Green Planet Series anyway?

Maybe that is something you will need to ask Amy Baird, one of my devout followers. She is twenty one years old and works for a large auditing firm in South Africa. Amy positively nags me for the next instalment of my book. She read Green Planet Under Fire in one evening and demanded to read Green Planet Three the following day. Not to brag about my achievement, but if you receive a fired up response like that you know you are onto something exciting beyond your wildest imagination.

I have already taken a few snippets from Green Planet Under Fire, but would like to dig a little deeper just to enhance the epic splendour of this adventure.  

Imagine four children and a wizard stranded on a foreign planet with colourful forests and unusual green life. An evil flower fairy has infected the forests with her cursed acorn goblins.

A kind druid named Patroux lives on Green Planet and owns a large house on an open plain, filled with unusual and brilliant specimens of plants. Dragon pod plant, dog ears and lolly-grogs to name a few.  After Green Planet is cursed, Patroux’s greenhouse explodes into an army of killer weeds.

The dog ear plants find some of Patroux’s magic grow sticks and they change from sweet doggy plants to man eating beasts. The peaceful dragon pods erupt into potent fire breathing flowers five times their usual size. Patroux is at his wits end trying to cope with the onslaught against his greenhouse. The story is action packed, very tense, fast moving as well as funny.

The good wizard Chimzen has three magical balls that possess incredible powers. Each entity has a personality and name of its own. They work together to form a unique triangular laser shield, or they act independently and fire laser beams. They form a shield or a flying hover board. They have countless useful functions.

Will Chimzen and the four teenagers survive their dangerous ordeal with Green Planet in such a cursed state? Will they survive an attack from Azor’s army of deadly Spincrick spiders, along with her Indian plant tribes, armed with lethal bows and arrows? Are Chimzen’s potent magical balls able to withstand the scourge of evil infecting the land? Will the group be safely guarded, or will things go horribly wrong?

There are many twists and turns to this story of adventure. Emma a beautiful blonde teenager who does nothing but tell lies throughout the story. She solves the incredible riddle to the great sceptre of magic, which is probably the most powerful sceptre ever known.  An amazing staff compiled of twelve wizard stones.

The magic staff is snatched by a podgy boy named Robert. He holds it up in the air with trembling hands, shaking under its massive power. Within a split second he revealed his desires to the staff. His heart’s desire was simple at his tender age. An enormous chocolate bridge held together with caramel and condensed milk magically appeared in front of him. How would you like to bite into a large chocolate structure melting in the sun? Wait there is so much more to the story. What else has been done using the great sceptre’s awesome power?

Then let’s not forget about Chimzen’s magical bird, Kenwood the cryptic cockatiel, an amazing bird capable of answering any question. Now what does that clever bird do to save the day? A creation like that could quite easily get somebody into serious trouble.

And what about Elvis the deep voiced singing goldfish, and Squidget the talking squirrel. Then let us not forget to mention: the druid on a flying barstool cruising through the air, this you will have got to read about.

The adventures and mishaps of all these bizarre characters and creatures are packed into one single story, Green Planet Under Fire. A magical fantasy adventure that will warm you right to the bottom of your big toes.

The adventure continues with the third magical book in the series, Green Planet and the Doomsday Oil. A completely unique fantasy conquest, coming soon.

About me - Mental illness bites back

Several months had passed and all was well in the sunny Southby residence. Patricia was back at school and managing OK. The rest of us kids weren’t so worried about my sister’s grades, our only concern was that she behaved normally and didn’t miff out on us again. There was no concern about that happening though, she and I were tearing each other’s hair out by the roots as usual and life was reasonably full of laughs and fun living.

Sadly things did not last long in sunny Southby paradise. One morning my parents noticed that things were not quite right with Patricia. She spent a lot of time moaning to herself about goodness knows what, and she had my mother fairly concerned.

That afternoon she walked up to the corner of our garden and started pulling up my mother’s plants and tossing them into the neighbour’s garden. Unfortunately the neighbour was around and he complained bitterly about my sister’s actions. He attempted to pick up the damaged flowers and toss them back over our wall. My sister reacted strongly against his defence and swore at the poor man harshly. My mother heard all the cursing and shouting from the house and ran outside to see what my sister was up to. My mother moaned loudly and demanded that my sister get back into the house. The neighbour just stood staring at Patricia completely gobsmacked.

Patricia screamed and cursed my mother to the grave without even giving an explanation her daft actions. Then she stormed into the house and marched into her bedroom and slammed the door.

Needless to say, my eldest sister and I felt very afraid. It was one thing for my sister to sit, mope and stare at the floor, but to lose her cool over absolute nonsense was something never seen before.

The house went very quiet for about an hour or so and the rest of us quietly discussed Patricia’s strange behaviour. That must have been a terrible mistake though because a while later she stormed out the bedroom and accused us all of plotting against her like evil spies. It was the most frightening experience for me as a boy. It suddenly seemed as though my sister was possessed by the evil one and she was going to do the unspeakable to us.

My mother tried to reason with her without any success. It only seemed like she was putting petrol on the fire and creating an enormous bonfire of rage to flare up. We were all quite unaware of how to deal with her in her state and only later we learned that the best bet would be to remain calm.

From being the brother that always argued I went quiet and turned deathly pale. I did not know this person anymore. What happened to my sister?

The next moment Patricia turned away from us as if she had been scared off in some way. She dashed outside and scrambled through the gate. My mother yelled after her, but she was already half way down the street.

I breathed a sigh of relief, so glad to see her go.  

3 More questions asked about the exciting new epic fantasy adventure story called Green Planet Under Fire

What makes these books such a fun read is your combination of humour, adventure and a richly detailed world in which your characters are set. Tell us about your inspiration for the Green Planet universe--is a lot of your creation organic, or did you connect with certain types of books and authors growing up?

There was only one author when I grew up and her name was Enid Blyton. She has definitely rubbed off on me with the infinity of books that she wrote. I can’t really remember any of her stories that well, but somehow I try and create that same feeling behind my stories. Like the magic wishing chair with its flying wings. Like using magic ointment to make things grow or make them better. Maybe my books are designed for a slightly older audience, but that same magic element carries through. Then there is C S Lewis with the great planet Narnia through the cupboard. Daft ideas of teleportation and magical quests, I love that.

With Green Planet I was able to create an original Floral planet like nobody has ever seen before and emphasize Green Peace and taking care of mother earth, like the way in which my great wizard Chimzen loves and takes care of his forest back home, perched up high in his tree house.

How far do these adventures go? How many more adventures do you have left to write?

With the Green Planet series I plan to take the story as far as five parts. Not that I would have run out of ideas, but I really don’t want to kill the concept. I can already feel ideas bursting through for part four, it’s very exciting. As long as the ideas are new and interesting I’m happy.

How many adventures do I have left? Well when I have completed the Green Planet series I will definitely move onto something else, there are an infinity of things to ponder over. I am gifted and have the ability to suck in new ideas like a machine. I am living in a very exciting time of my life.   

Tell us a bit about your website, and why people should visit!

 My website was created by a good friend of mine, and he is constantly adding and upgrading it. The website is colourful and attractive to look at, especially for children. There is a piece about myself and the struggles I have been through to be the success that I enjoy today. Some people might find this uplifting.  Your children will enjoy the theme poems on my site where they can learn more about the Green Planet story. There is also a chapter of my book for those that would like to get a taste of the adventure. And if you would like to hear what I sound like you can hear me on a radio interview promoting the book as well.

Thanks to Anthony for taking time out of his writing and promotional schedule to answer a few questions for us! Green Planet and Green Planet Under Fire are available to order via Amazon, Gardners, Melrose Books and select locations throughout the UK. You can also place an order by stopping into your local bookseller, who will always appreciate your support. For local orders in South Africa, contact Sula Distribution on +27 (21) 556 1149 or via email on info@sula.co.za.

3 Questions asked about the exciting new epic fantasy adventure story called Green Planet Under Fire

Green Planet Under Fire is is due for release on April 11, 2011, the second book in the Green Planet adventure series. Anthony's books have had a wide appeal due to their fantastical and imaginative nature. We at Melrose books interviewed Anthony and asked him a few interesting questions regarding his new novel.  

Green Planet Under Fire is the follow-up to Green Planet, which you published with us last year. Before we jump into Green Planet Under Fire, what do we need to know from the first adventure so that we're all up to speed?

For those that haven’t heard of Green Planet before, it is a fast-paced fantasy adventure novel suitable for all ages. The theme of the story basically revolves around two boys who are turned into a pair of monkeys by an evil wizard. They are then taken to Green Planet by Chimzen the good wizard with the goal of finding a magic Frego flower to restore them to boys again.

Green Planet is covered in deadly plant creatures and cunning flower fairies, and the group nearly sacrifice their lives in an effort to return home alive. Jasmine Azor is the leader of the flower fairy gang and she goes all out to destroy Chimzen and his friends.  Green Planet is not only action and drama; the story is also filled with wit and invention.

Green Planet Under Fire basically begins from where the evil flower fairies have been defeated. When I first wrote the series I tried not to leave too many loose ends, and one will find that each new installment is more or less an independent story of its own.       

While both of these books can be read as stand-alone titles, they're both still written with a sense that, yes, the adventure carries on. Are these character arcs that have been written for some time, or are you creating the worlds of these characters as you go?

The first Green Planet book was written from day to day. I would usually lie in bed at night and suddenly come up with a really incredible idea; then I would immediately make a note of it. As I got the ideas coming to me I would write the story, never quite knowing how it would end.

Green Planet Under Fire was quite different though. I carefully planned the story, developing a solid structure first with all the key ideas. This must have taken me over two months to do. Then just like that I wrote the book in six short weeks. With a solid foundation the story just flowed out of me at an amazing rate.  The book is filled with incredible detail, and is extremely fast-moving.

No I have not planned the series through to the end, but I do plan each one with loose ends leading to the next book.   

Mathias the evil wizard is back, as is Chimzen the good wizard, not to mention Philip and Frank. But you introduce a number of new characters that keep your story fresh and really open up the Green Planet universe for us. Who are your biggest additions, and what functions do they serve in the story?

Funny you should say ‘open up the Green Planet universe.’ The third book in the series is where I have literally opened up the Green Planet universe by adding strange new planets for the group to visit.

Back to the question, three new characters added to my story would be Mathick, Robert, and Emmaline or Emma. Very interesting in indeed.

Mathick with his tattooed body and long hair, cruising through the air on his flying silver barstool.  A coward of a man with an extreme passion for money. He is Mathias’ brother and is also quite rotten to the core.  Jasmine Azor manages to use him against his will for her own personal gain, so you could say he forms a part of the team of villains.

Robert Nothling is one of Philip’s school friends and he enjoys nothing quite like chocolate cake and roast potatoes, OK maybe not together.  He lands up in a rather unfortunate predicament in my story. He is lured into a creepy place in the valley somewhere where he ends up eating the sap of a very toxic tree.  He blows up like a hot air balloon and floats up into the sky.  Let’s just say the floating boy ends up quite bloated with gas. The poor boy is also petrified of the creatures on Green Planet and does his fair share of moaning.

Emma Sawyer on the other hand is a beautiful blonde teenage girl as well as a compulsive liar. The group soon tire of her ways and wish that she had never come along to Green Planet. She pays the price for her sins though and gets transformed into a talking bush by Azor, but only develops each new leaf one lie at a time.

About Me – The big black hole where my sister stayed.

Now it was a Sunday afternoon and my mother insisted that I come along and visit my sister in Tara hospital. I was very reluctant to go and insisted that I wanted to stay at home. But my mother told me that we needed to stand together and support Patricia in her time of need.

Just as I expected the institution where my sister was staying at was horrible. It had a miff smell about it and the people walking past stared at us and looked strange, while others gazed at the ground as if we were aliens that had just arrived to come and ship them out.

Finally we entered one of the wards and my sister was sitting next to a tray of sandwiches staring at the floor like she had been at home. Her hair had been combed back nicely by one of the sisters but she looked dopey and obviously heavily medicated.

She walked down the corridor with us to take a seat on an open piece of grass. She never said much really, she only cried and asked to come home. My mother held her hand and told her that it wouldn’t be long before she was released.

Sadly the following week things got suddenly worse. Patricia had climbed up a two story building and had jumped off onto the paving below. Her intention was to commit suicide but she had broken her leg instead.

Sadly her recovery was a slow one and she spent many months in hospital care.

Finally she was released from Tara. She still seemed very heavily medicated and was not at all like the sister I had been quarrelling with my entire life through. She was calm and distant and did not talk much at all.

My mother explained to us that it was all part of her depression and that things would improve.

And they surely did, a few months later my sister was arguing with me again like God had intended her to. She was full of life and I was very happy to have my old sister back. Our entire family lived in the hope that she would remain stable. I guess we were entitled to be optimistic, living in the hope that everything would be just fine.

“We are cups, constantly and quietly being filled. The trick is, knowing how to tip ourselves over and let the beautiful stuff out.” Ray Bradbury

Why did I call my epic fantasy story Green Planet?

Chimzen the wizard has a deep love for his dwelling place on earth with his tree house perched up at the top of a tall pepper tree. He is gravely concerned for the disappearance of his beloved animals living in amongst the trees. His purpose there is to serve and protect the animals and the green life. He is the positively green fingered gardener, and Senton forest represents the earth that is slowly being destroyed. Mathias the evil wizard symbolizes the graders and earthmoving machinery that moves in to destroy our precious rain forests.

Then there is the killing of thousands of defenceless animals, mostly done out of a never ceasing lust for money and to cause vicious harm and ruin. One example of this being the wasting away of the rhino, or what about the death of our precious dolphins. Sheer murder is what I call it.

The one and only planet we have that we need to save at any cost. Our precious one and only, Green Planet. The wizard with all his magic, love and potions cannot mend this one.

Then there is the great planet of plants, also known as Floran. A massive expanse of brightly coloured wild plant creatures. The Great Green Planet where not a single bird or a bee can be found. A place where no man would dare set his feet down. Yes, a place where man should remain always hopeful that his life will be spared.

Now when I first created my epic fantasy adventure story I desperately wanted it to be something original, something never read about in any other book before. You know the old saying when they say smoke was coming out his ears? Well that’s exactly how it was when I created the crazy creatures on Green Planet. And as the smoke billowed out my ears and nose I constructed several bizarre, deadly and colourful plant critters.

From gigantic leafy man eating traps to armies of leafy balls with shark like teeth.

Sounds almost frightening one would say, but I think you will more likely have a good laugh.

Chimzen the wizard and those unfortunate schoolboys will soon arrive, and yes I do believe that they are in for a nasty surprise.

About me – Her struggle against depression

Once my sister had returned from her weekend with her new boyfriend an obvious change had taken place in her life. She was no longer the sister that I knew anymore. In place of snapping at me with a clever comment all she did was sit and stare. My mother was devastated by her strange silence and demanded to know what had happened over the weekend.

Nothing was ever found out about that weekend though, or whether some kind of abuse had maybe taken place. Anyway that’s all history, my sister was damaged goods.

I had heard of depression before but nothing this severe. My mother was hoping that my sister’s situation would improve but sadly it only seemed to get worse.

Before very long my sister was admitted to Tara hospital in Johannesburg, where she received treatment.

"Optimism. The doctrine or belief that everything is beautiful, including what is ugly." Ambrose Bierce

Chimzen and the boys head off to Green Planet

Now the wizard possessed a rather unusual pet. His unusual pet seemed quite ordinary at first glance until it opened its fat lips. Yes, the wizard owned a very special talking goldfish, named Elvis. The talented little fish could sing, play the guitar and dance on his tail. And you guessed it; with a name like Elvis the fish had a deep voice and could sing just like ‘The King.’

Frank and Philip were speechless when they saw Elvis and eagerly waited for him to sing a song. Elvis finally broke out into song and had the boys clapping their hands in delight. The words to his songs were unusual yet almost the same as Elvis ‘The King.’ Now what did that fish sing to the boys that fine day that made them whistle and dance in such a strange way?

Once everyone had settled the wizard looked at the boys rather solemn. He knew no way to change them back to human beings. Well let’s just say he knew of one possible way which he was desperately trying to avoid.

Yes, the secret remedy of a rather powerful magic flower could only be found on a dangerous planet, overrun by evil plant life. A planet consisting of violent snap dragons, potent petunias and cunning coronations. The wizard and the boys stood side by side trembling in their boots, dreading to face The Great Green Planet.

The slow creeping in of one’s darkest days

I was 11 years old and had a couple of years to go before I would reach high school. My sister, Patricia, on the other hand was in her first year of high school. She used to struggle at times with her school work and my mother wasn’t exactly the most patient of people. She managed OK though, but did a lot better with her sport at school.

It must have been a few months into the year when Patricia met up with her first boyfriend. She was 13 years old and she thought that he was simply the greatest. After dating for a while my sister went to visit this boy over a weekend in a town called Vereeniging. My mother was fine with this because my sister had one of her female friends along with her.

Nevertheless Patricia returned home on Sunday night looking distant, and she never spoke a word about her romantic weekend or about anything at all for that matter. None of the people that she was staying with cared to say a word about the weekend either.

“I can’t change the direction of the wind, but I can adjust my sails to reach my destination.” Jimmy Dean

The children’s novel that made a difference – The Green Planet magic spreads

The magic of Green Planet is starting to spread like a wildfire. Colleen enjoyed the story immensely, even more than Avatar. Many people say that Green Planet will become an epic movie as it is so filled with awesome concepts and vivid detail.

Joshua found that he could not put the novel down for a moment, and once he had reached chapter ten he continued reading until he reached the end of chapter twenty nine in one short afternoon. The magic of green planet seemed to revolve around the continuous mystery behind the story. That eagerness one has to hurry along and snatch the ending. The dazzling spectacle, bizarre magic, and crazy creatures.

The excitement continues with the release of Green Planet Under Fire in April 2011 which has exceeded the publishers expectations for a sequel.

Thabo can’t wait for the next instalment of the series and looks forward to a future as a scholar fluent in reading and one that can reach out confidently for a higher education. Ok maybe his success with reading did not all come as a result of reading Green Planet, but let’s just say that the book’s first page gave him that spark of excitement to proceed to the magical journey on the following one.

The children’s novel that made a difference - Thabo’s school principal discovers Green Planet

Other scholars at Lekgulo High found the book to be just like reading a movie, as they put it. An epic movie filled with wizards, schoolboys, flower fairies, an intensity of magical elements and magical balls.

After a few months the scruffy looking Green Planet novel was then handed to the school principal for examination. The principal beamed with approval as a group of excited school children explained parts of the story to him. The principal calmed the pupils and asked Thabo if he could hold onto the Green Planet novel for a day.

The following afternoon shortly before the lunch time break the school principal called Thabo into his office. To Thabo’s delight the principal told him how he had enjoyed the story, and that he would do everything in his power to allocate Green Planet as part of their English syllabus.

The principal felt that in order to improve the children’s reading ability they should read something of interest to them, something that they would thoroughly enjoy. Rather avoid other serious, more formal books that would only frustrate the children and make them bored.

The children’s novel that made a difference - Thabo takes Green Planet to school

A children’s story that is taking South African schools by storm. Thabo Ntuli, a disadvantaged child from Lekgulo High on the East Rand of Johannesburg was captivated by Green Planet and could not put the book down for a moment. He said that although the story was long he found it was very easy to follow and it grabbed his attention from the start. When he read the book the characters in the story came alive to him and seemed to jump right out off the page.

Thabo went on to show his peers at school the colourful book and immediately captured their attention. Over a few months the book had exchanged hands from scholar to scholar. One of the pupils said that it was the first book that he was actually able to read, and after reading page two he was hooked. His English reading skills were very poor and he battled at first, but he found the story so compelling that it helped him continue reading with sheer fascination. After struggling to read Green Planet for several hours he found that his reading ability had improved somewhat and he developed a love for reading for the first time in his life.

About Me – Down to the roots of mental illness

Now that we were living in the Gauteng region, my real father lived in Johannesburg which was very close to where we were staying. I had never seen him before and my eldest sister, Tracy had so many good things to say about him. I was all revved up and excited about finally meeting my real father.

As we all went through to my grandmother’s house I was having mixed feeling about seeing my dad. I mean why did he get rid of us in the first place? I don’t need him in my life. It was only when we got there that things changed, in fact I was quite devastated by the reality of it.

It turned out that my father was a good for nothing freak. It was like reaching deep into a dark closet and dragging out all the old dusty bones one by one. My father suffered with a chronic condition called schizophrenia. He behaved differently to normal people, and I decided to keep a distance from him.

This wasn’t going to make a difference in my life anyway, was my response, so there was really no need to care really. Or was I mistaken?    

“Dreams are but thoughts until their effects be tried.” William Shakespeare

The good wizard rescues the boys

Now Philip and Frank have been rescued from the evil wizard, Mathias. That is quite a story though, many would consider it unbelievable. Now you could use your imagination and plan your own rescue, or you could quite simply follow the epic Green Planet journey.

The boys stood with Chimzen the good wizard in his quaint looking tree house perched up a tall pepper tree on the outskirts of the woods. They were teleported to the top of the tree by the wizards amazing magical balls. Yes, teleporting is one of the many talents that the Malco trio possess, besides an arsenal of several others.

Chimzen frowned at the boys because they were not looking quite themselves. Yes Mathias has been up to his experimentation and Frank and Philip were no longer creatures of the human kind. The good wizard was pleased to see them safe though. What did that monster do to them?

About Me – A peaceful life

The four of us children enjoyed a peaceful upbringing with my mother in a small three bedroom house in Germiston, on the outskirts of Johannesburg.

We were very interactive as a family and we all helped to do the dishes and general house cleaning.

Our house had been newly built and I can remember our garden looked like a jungle. There was no grass there only plenty of weeds. It stands out in my mind because I hated working in the garden. To my dismay we all were roped in to weeding the garden and planting grass. It was tough at first but after a while we all enjoyed watching the garden develop. Needless to say, I became the chief grass mower.

Besides having the odd fight with my sister, my life was fairly peaceful and pleasant. I had a few good friends at school and even had my first girlfriend when I was eleven.

The thing I have learnt about life is that nothing lasts forever, be it the good or the bad times.

“People become really quite remarkable when they start thinking they can do things. When they believe in themselves they have the first secret of success.” Norman Vincent Peale

The wizard’s magical balls

Now Chimzen the wizard possesses an incredible secret, a secret so small and seemingly insignificant, yet powerful enough to bring down an entire army with the spin of the ball. They are not only his protector but also his special friends. The trio are constructed from the finest magical ingredients a wizard can find. Each one resembles a ball of intelligent mercury that reflects a variety of zooty colours.

They are cheeky and they are zippy. They move at the speed of a bullet and they handle their enemies with attitude. They are the Malco trio.

The dark wizard and his fatal spell

The boys have no idea what the dark wizard is plotting. Mathias booms down the blackened passageway, cackling like a maniac. Frank and Philip are absolutely petrified of him and they find their current predicament hard to believe. This evil looking person can only be a fantasy; they must surely be dreaming.

Mathias chuckles at the look of dismay on their faces and heads back to the main hall to continue with his preparations. He has an assortment of herbs, leaves and roots spread over a table in the corner with a collection of flasks filled with a variation of bubbling liquids. Makes a person wonder what is in store for those poor boys?

About Me

We were four children in our family. I had a twin brother named Grant and two sisters named Tracy and Patricia.

Just like most families we used to argue a lot. Patricia was always finding fault with everything I did and this always ended with constant squabbling, which in turn ended with my mother yelling.

We lived in Cape Town for one last year and moved back up to Johannesburg. We were battling financially and went to stay with my grandmother for financial support. When we first moved in everything was rosy and we all loved staying with our grandparents. I don’t know why exactly but for some reason whenever you added step into the family equation the consequences were unappealing. My step-grandfather was quite unpleasant at times. A year was as much as I could take in that household and was overjoyed when we could afford to move to a place of our own.

“A word of encouragement during a failure is worth more than an hour of praise after success.” Anonymous

The wizard of doom

Mathias reeked of a sinister evil. With his filthy yellow teeth and toxic breath he gargled over his latest experiment with enthusiasm. Frank and Philip were his captives and he kept them safely locked up at the bottom end of his blackened shaft he called home.

The dark wizard had long black hair with blue streaks. He wore a long black robe with blue trimmings. He had a fine black moustache and long pointed ears. His nose was bent slightly and his bright green eyes had slits like those of a cat. The way you could distinguish Mathias from other dark wizards is he had a black “M” tattooed on his cheek for Mathias, or should I say for Murder.

About Me

There are people that may wonder why I feel the need to share my life with others. My answer to that is: firstly my life story is quite unusual and people might find it interesting or entertaining. The truth is that there are millions of people out there with similar problems to what I have, and nobody to tell them that they are going to make it through. I know that there was a time in my life where I felt there was no hope for me and that there couldn’t possibly be anyone on earth suffering as much as I was. I felt hopeless in my depression and I felt as though I would never become anything.

The tunnel was dark and it seemed endless but somewhere miles ahead there was a light......

“Education is learning the extent of one’s own ignorance.” Raymond C. Nolan

A radiant being reflecting goodness and truth

Chimzen the wizard lived along the outskirts of the woods in a tree house at the top of a tall pepper tree. He was a tall being with brilliant blue eyes that radiated truth. He had pointed ears and a long crooked nose. He wore a green robe with brown trimmings.

Chimzen was the very heartbeat of the woods, and all the little animals staying there loved him dearly. The kind wizard was aware that several of the animals had strangely disappeared from the woods and that their numbers were dwindling.

He suspected that Mathias was up to no good but he could not accuse him unless he had definite proof.

Chimzen was an extremely powerful wizard and found his way quite comfortably around his large black book of spells. Mathias was fully aware of his cousin’s tremendous power and was extra careful to keep his forbidden secret hidden.

Chimzen took a walk along one of the paths running through the woods. He was looking all around for any possible evidence left by Mathias.

Suddenly Chimzen noticed a faint shoeprint in the sand along the path. A shoeprint like one made by a school shoe. He leaned forward and scratched his chin in wonder; then he did a very unusual thing. He scraped up a sample of the soil and carefully placed it inside his pocket. Now what would the point of collecting some dirt be?  

About Me

When I was young my mother was married to a man with an unfortunate passion for drinking. Those were the days when children were seen and not heard.

He would give us a good hiding from time to time, and we would usually get it with our trousers around our ankles. I still remember he had bought himself a fancy new lathe which he used to fashion a lovely handle for his leather belt to give us a good spanking with.

He wasn’t all that bad really we just had to avoid him when he was drunk. I’m not sure if it was just because I was a really timid boy, but I was terribly afraid of him.

Anyhow as the old saying goes, nothing lasts forever. My mother soon divorced him and we all moved to the next suburb and lived in a small apartment.

Living with my stepfather had its ups and downs but when we moved away from him all those luxuries and fancy living stayed behind with him. We were now dirt poor and we all lived together like old Mother Hubbard in her shoe. It was quite tough in the beginning with my mother supporting four children on a small salary, but we soon adjusted and started enjoying our freedom.

The whole divorce thing was very confusing for me though. I was always known as Anthony De Klerk as a youngster (stepfather’s surname). Now all of a sudden my real surname was restored to me. I must say for a nine year old that was terribly confusing. It leads to a bit of an identity crises, mind you it was extremely mild compared to the identity crisis I experienced later on in life.

“Good manners will often take people where neither money nor education will take them.”  Fanny Jackson Coppin

The forest of good and evil

The din of earthmoving equipment could be heard across the street from Senton High school. Some builders were preparing the ground to erect a long 8 foot wall around the entire perimeter of the forest. The forest was a creepy place where schoolboys feared to tread. In fact nobody dared to come within ten yards of the dark forest. Several of the creatures inhabiting the forest had strayed out across the open roads and were crushed to death. There was a sinister evil that inhabited the woods that had the people so afraid that a petition was signed to have the enormous wall built around it. Not only innocent animals were harmed but a few schoolboys had also gone missing. Search parties had been sent out with no luck of finding anybody. All that was recovered from one of the boys was a pair of cracked binoculars.

Somewhere in an underground shaft a sinister evil lurks. A dark wizard is experimenting using laboratory apparatus. He is in the process of preparing a very powerful spell to use on his prisoners for great material gain. Mathias is his name; the unlawful capture of schoolboys is his game....

Further along the beaten path towards the outskirts of the forest lives a very wise old wizard that is anything but pleased about his Cousin Mathias’ antics. Chimzen, the great wizard, bold and bound firmly in truth. He is also not aware of what his cousin is up to. He does suspect something though. I think if the truth is revealed it will surely lead to furious rage...  

About Me

Afraid and sad all at the same time. I lay in amongst the school tennis court netting wondering if I was really alive and if the passageway filled with screaming children before me actually real.

I reported to my school teacher, Mrs Williams. She was the one I feared most, and I told her that I was not feeling well. Yes, I mumbled it to her and she demanded that I speak up.

I remember going to the doctor and he could find nothing wrong with me. But he did see that I was looking quite unhappy so he booked me off school for a couple of days.

I can remember being at home and I can’t really say what it was for sure, I just felt strange and seemed to find a much deeper meaning behind things. I felt almost spaced out without taking any kind of drug or anything. These were the first signs of things to come. This incredible imagination of mine that allowed me to look deeply into something, analyze it and bring out a bizarre meaning to it. Perceive the reality of it in a normal fashion then take it to pieces and make it weird. There were also so many mixed emotions to it.

Being classified as bipolar has so many facets to it. Being quite brilliant with ones creative thinking, and also being extremely sensitive to ones surrounding. At the tender age of nine I was becoming aware of how deeply I felt emotional pain along with the experience of obscure ideas.

Anyway, I soon tired of sitting at home lost in thought, and I decided to clean our fish pond. Aiming to please my folks I ended up knee deep in fish water and trouble. I was rushed back to school the following day with my mother having no clue about why I felt like bunking school all of a sudden.

“Any man’s life will be filled with constant and unexpected encouragement if he makes up his mind to do his level best each day.” Booker T. Washington

Introduction to a couple of boys from Green Planet

One of the main characters of my story is the kind of guy that all the cool kids hang out with. His name is Frank Featherstone. He may not be all that bright at his school work but he positively excels at all kinds of sport. To crown it off he is the school boxing champion. With his short brown hair put into a brush-cut he is a lean mean killing machine.

Now there happens to be another main character of my story with the name of Philip Birch. Now Philip on the other hand is generally quite useless at most things, in his own eyes, and he is rather untidy. He has a freckled face and a thatch of red hair and has a complex about his appearance as some freckle faced boys may have.

Frank and Philip are sworn enemies and Philip generally avoids Frank more than Frank avoids him. Philip likes to preserve his untidy appearance and avoids Frank like a cold shower in winter.

However, things take rather an unusual twist in both of their lives which leads them to a place where they end up as best friends. Not just any place, but a cold dark underground shaft somewhere where a rather sinister wizard lurks.

About Me

If I go back in my mind, the very first thing that I can remember is my maid picking up a long snake from the ground outside and tossing it into a large galvanised basin of boiling hot water. If you think about it logically it was almost symbolic of somebody having the victory over something evil. Like the evil serpent being thrown into the lake of fire. Somehow the scene did not seem quite so cheerful to me and symbolised a life of continuous good over evil. The boiled snake left me feeling ill and depressed.

When I was young our maid was like a second mother to me. I was a shy and withdrawn child which was probably because I never went to a preschool and mixed with other children. I enjoyed killing red ants and climbing trees when I played in the garden on my own. With my vivid imagination I created imaginary friends and entertained myself for hours.

Shortly before I started school we moved from Johannesburg to Cape Town. It was the year 1980 and I remembered feeling terrified. I guess most children do feel afraid of school on their first day. There were loads of other children in my class all dressed the same. It was rough at first but I soon made loads of friends. School wasn’t so bad.

After a couple of years of finger painting and learning to read something changed at school. The funny thing is nothing had changed; only the way I perceived things was somehow different. Like I was suddenly very afraid and sad all at the same time.  

“Many things which cannot be overcome when they are together yield themselves up when taken little by little.” Plutarch