Andrew Lane - Lost Worlds - Chapter One Preview......

                       

I was hoping to post all of chapter one onto my blog. Unfortunately, blogger will not allow me to publish the PDF file that I was sent. Therefore this is the start of chapter one for you to enjoy. If you would like to read the rest of this chapter then please click on the link at the end of the post.  I hope that you all enjoy this little taster and that it will encourage you to buy a copy of the book, once it has been published on the 25th April. Please also read my review for it HERE

You can also check out the great new website at (www.thelostworlds.co.uk)

Calum Challenger gazed in awe at the image on the computer screen. Well, to be fair, he gazed in awe at the image on the central one of the ten screens that hung, at different heights, suspended from articulated arms, in front of his work desk. The image was blurred and grainy, but that wasn’t the screen’s fault. His multi-screen, high- definition, hex-core computer system was the best that money could buy – and despite the fact that he was only sixteen he had access to a lot of money. An awful lot of money. No, the image was blurred and grainy because it had been blown up from a photograph taken with a mobile phone camera at long range while the subject was moving. Even so, he could just about see what it was.

He leaned back in his chair. Five years he’d been waiting for an image like this to turn up. Five years. Now it was here, captured in colour on his computer screen, he wasn’t sure how he should react.

A cold breeze from the darkened expanse of the warehouse behind him caressed the hairs on the back of his neck. He didn’t turn around. He knew that it was just a random gust of wind through a ventilation grille – the alarm systems would have gone off if anyone had actually broken in to the warehouse. He was, as he almost always was these days, alone. 

The screen showed a figure against a background of grass, bushes and rocks. Judging by the figure’s shadow the background was slanted – perhaps a hillside or a slope. The interesting thing – the thing that had made Calum catch his breath in wonder – was that the figure didn’t look human. 

It was difficult to tell its size, with only the heights of the bushes to compare it with, but Calum got the impression that it was about the size of a large man. It was stooped, with rounded shoulders and bowed arms that dangled in front of it. Its skin seemed to be covered with short, red hair, with the exception of pale lines up its spine, down the inside of its forearms and beneath its jaw. He could have been looking at a big, hairy man with a stoop, except that the face was different. A thick ridge of brow pushed out over the eyes, like a chimpanzee, and the teeth and jaw were pushed out slightly, but a distinct nose projected out beneath the eyes. Chimpanzees didn’t have noses.

He drew a box around the figure’s right hand with a couple of clicks of his trackball, and flicked the section of image inside the box to another of his screens. The result was pixelated almost to the point of incoherence, but he could just make out what looked like a thumb that was separate from the rest of the fingers, and angled so that it could close against them. An opposable thumb – that was another thing that ruled out the possibility that it was a chimpanzee. Calum knew that their thumbs were much shorter than the rest of their fingers, making it easier for them to climb trees. Gorillas had opposable thumbs, but this wasn’t anything like a gorilla. Some Old World monkeys, like mandrills, also had opposable thumbs, but they were all small – the size of a dog – and there was no way they could be mistaken for human. No, this thing was unique.

He ran his fingers through his long hair and interlaced them at the back of his neck. He supposed it could be a man in a mask and a hairy suit – like that 1967 footage taken in California which was supposed to show an ape- like creature locally known as the sasquatch but which had turned out to be a hoax. That was the problem with these blurry photographs or jerky video clips – they could so easily be hoaxes. And yet . . . its forearms seemed longer in proportion to its upper arms, and to the rest of its body. Reduced to a silhouette, it just didn’t look human. If the creature was a hoax then it was a very well constructed one.

The creature. He laughed suddenly, and the laughter echoed back to his ears from the cold brick walls of the warehouse. He was already thinking of it as the creature. Just a few moments ago it had been the figure. Somewhere in his mind, it seemed that he had already made a decision about the photograph’s likely authenticity.

http://www.panmacmillan.com/devpanmacmillan/media/panmacmillan/Activities/Book extracts/LostWorlds-chapter1.pdf?ext=.pdf

Book Review: Andrew Lane - Lost Worlds - Published by Macmillan Children's

                                     

Arthur Conan Doyle has been a great influence on many writers both past and present, but none more so than on Andrew Lane, who was greatly inspired to write his first series for children entitled "Young Sherlock Holmes". This has now been published in thirty seven different languages - highlighting the ever increasing popularity of the series with over 200,000 copies having been sold so far. Book six, "Knife Edge", is due to be published in the UK in September, so it is certainly not the end of this brilliant series.

Andrew has kept the Conan Doyle connection alive in spirit through his new epic adventure series. The main character in the book, Calum Challenger, is the grandson of Doyle's protagonist, Professor George Edward Challenger. He is featured in a similarly titled book 'The Lost World' hence a new name is born. It is certainly a fantastic opening book which I'm sure you will all be eager to read - just like I was.

Calum's character is very stereotypical in many ways apart from the fact that he is paralysed. The author portrays Calum in a rather unique and endearing way as a teenage boy coping with a disability. Whilst this is featured as only a small part of the story, it certainly added an unexpected outlook. Calum Challenger is on a quest to find a cure to help him walk again and to live a normal life. His mission is to track down the supposedly mythological creatures that are so rare, that most people don't believe that they even exist. However Calum does. It is imperative that he finds them for two reasons: to take their DNA to use it to help protect these species and also to search for a cure for his paralysis. The only problem is that he's confined to the high-tech virtual world where he lives on his own in a converted warehouse. 

As the story unfolds, the solution literally falls from the sky as Calum finds an unlikely team of friends. He finds some by luck and others by circumstance. There is a goth computer hacker, a freerunner, an ex-marine and a girl with a chip on her shoulder. Together they set off on an expedition to the Caucasus Mountains in search of a mysterious creature, which has supposedly been sited. However, when a pharmaceutical corporation called Nemor have conflicting interests, the team find themselves both under pressure and in danger. Can they locate the mysterious creature first and stay one step ahead of their enemy.

This is a fast-paced, high-tech story full of great characters that teenagers will easily engage with and relate to. Gecko was easily my favourite character in the book. He certainly brought a new dimension to the story with his free running - this is a really cool sport to watch if you ever get the chance to do so. 

In my head, I was confidently certain that I knew how this story would end. Surprisingly, it took a very different route. A turn of events proved to be very unpredictable and kept me guessing right up until the very end.

I found this a very refreshing story to read. Both the ideas and the creativity transpose well into the story. They keep the reader hooked in a fantastic bubble of action and plot line. The literary influence of Willard Price, in my opinion, helped to lead the author to deliver a slice of both factual and historical writing which again made the story shine out proud like a host of golden daffodils.   

I absolutely loved this book - it is a brilliant and enjoyable read. Full of old-style action, within a hi-tech world, it is hair raising (just like the cover!) You can check this out with the free app that you can download. This book has easily sky rocketed to being my favourite book of the year so far. It is an amazing start to a fantastic new series......... I'm lost now for any further words! 

An extract of the first chapter, will be also be available to read later this week. Thanks for reading all.

Published by Macmillan Children's Books; 25 April 2013

Press Release:Macmillan Children’s Books buys three-book series by Andrew Lane

                                 

(Picture by Helen Stirling)

MCB Associate Publishing Director, Polly Nolan, has bought world rights in a new three-book series by Andrew Lane, author of the hugely popular Young Sherlock Holmes series. Rights were acquired from Robert Kirby at United Agents.

Entitled Lost Worlds, Macmillan Children’s Books will publish one novel a year from May 2013 in ebook and paperback original, the paperback retailing at £5.99.  The launch will be backed by a major marketing and publicity campaign.

The Lost Worlds novels will feature fifteen-year-old Calum Challenger, a genius on a mission to track down creatures considered so rare that most people don’t believe they exist. Calum is doing it for two reasons – to take their DNA and use that to help protect these species, but also to search for a cure for his paralysis. From his state-of-the-art bedroom in London he commands a group of fearless misfit friends – a computer hacker, a free runner, an ex-marine and a pathological liar – in a race around the globe against those who want to wipe out these endangered creatures.

Andrew Lane comments:

‘I'm more than overjoyed to be working on this exciting new series with the highly talented editorial, marketing and publicity teams at Macmillan. I've had an amazing time working with them on Young Sherlock Holmes, and Lost Worlds will bring the same sense of intelligent adventure and excitement to a modern-day setting.

‘That doesn't mean I'm going to stop writing Young Sherlock Holmes. The series gets more popular every day, and I've got plenty of ideas up my sleeve that will keep both series bubbling merrily along!’

Belinda Rasmussen, Publisher, Macmillan Children's Books, adds:

‘We are delighted to be working with Andrew Lane on a new series to sit alongside the Young Sherlock Holmes series. Lost Worlds has a captivating cast of characters and a pacy, narrative style combined with nail-biting adventure and thrilling plot twists. As with Young Sherlock Holmes, all these elements make a truly addictive read.’

Andrew Lane is an author, journalist and lifelong Sherlock Holmes fan. Macmillan Children’s Books publishes his bestselling Young Sherlock Holmes series, with a fifth novel, Snake Bite, due to be launched in October 2012.

Andrew's passion for the original novels of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle and his determination to create an authentic teenage Sherlock Holmes made him the perfect choice to work with the Conan Doyle Estate to reinvent the world’s most famous detective in this new series.

He lives in Hampshire with his wife and son.