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.
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