Posts by Peter
Researching Wolf Brother
I want the reader to feel that they’re right there with Torak and Wolf. And that means research. However, it’s vital not to include too much in the stories, so I’m careful only to put in a tiny part of what I’ve learned: maybe as little as 1%. The challenge is to put in just…
Read MoreThe Wolf Inside Me
Since I was a child, I’ve read everything I could find about wolves, and the wolf talk which Torak uses is as close as I can get to real wolf talk. For example, when he asks Wolf to play, or muzzle-grabs him when he’s a cub, that’s how a real wolf might invite play, or…
Read MoreA Swim In The Fjord With Killer Whales
To get ideas for what the Seal Islands might be like, I went to the Lofoten Islands of north Norway, and stayed in a rorbu (a fisherman’s hut built on stilts over the water). I was there at the time of the midnight sun (when the story takes place), and spent several days roaming the…
Read MoreKiller Whales, Gutskin, And Seal Meat
When I was writing Spirit Walker, I needed to immerse myself in Torak’s world. So I went there. To experience the Seal Islands, I travelled to the Lofoten islands of north-west Norway. Like Torak, I went at Midsummer, which is a very strange time in the north, because it doesn’t get dark. I found it…
Read MoreResearching Soul Eater
For research, I spent time in north-east Greenland in winter, where I experienced at first hand the power of wind and snow, watched glaciers calving and icebergs crashing into each other, and took several husky sled trips Greenland-style (racing as fast as the dogs could go over hills, frozen lakes, anything in their path). To…
Read MoreEncounters With Ice Bears
The Inuit name for the polar bear is Nanuq: the most feared and respected of all Arctic creatures. And no wonder. The polar bear is the largest land predator in the world, and an incredibly skilled hunter, equally at home on ice, mountain, or in the sea. And unlike the grizzly or black bear, which…
Read MoreResearching Outcast
In Outcast, much of the story takes place in or around Lake Axehead, so I needed a large lake. Where better than Sweden, which has about a hundred thousand lakes to choose from? To get ideas for Lake Axehead, I went to Lake Storsjon in northern Sweden, where I got inspiration for the eerie reedbeds…
Read MoreGhost Hunter
Ghost Hunter is the final book in Michelle’s Chronicles of Ancient Darkness series – and the book that won her Britain’s most prestigious children’s writing prize, the Guardian Children’s Fiction Prize. As winter approaches and Souls’ Night draws near, the Eagle Owl Mage holds the clans in the grip of terror. To fulfil his destiny,…
Read MoreOath Breaker
When he was outcast, Torak was the hunted one. The following spring, he becomes the hunter when he swears to avenge the killing of one of his closest friends. To fulfil his oath he must brave the hidden valleys of the Deep Forest, where the clans have reverted to the savagery of an earlier time. …
Read MoreMore Expeditions
In addition to the trips which I made specifically to research the books, I have over the years made many trips which I have used in writing the books. The Shetland Isles: in 1988 I rented a remote cottage on Unst, the northernmost island in the British Isles. My notes on the seals, seabirds and…
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