Two Books, One Local Author – Ideal Christmas Presents

Published on: 10 Dec, 2019
Updated on: 4 Dec, 2019

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Local author, David Stokes, has recently published two books in very different genre: a children’s picture book, Prince Woswy and the Bad Dream, and an historical novel, Angles or Angels?.

David said: “When my children were young, they had bad dreams as kids of that age sometimes do. I made up a story which seemed to help them through the nightmares, and I wrote it down so I wouldn’t forget it.

“Nearly thirty years later, one of those children, my son Kit, married Gemma who happens to be a very talented artist. She illustrated the story quite beautifully, I think.”

Prince Woswy and the Bad Dream is a picture book for children. It stars a young prince whose sleep is disturbed by a nightmare about a dragon.

David Stokes, Guildford author. You can read about David on his website (davidstokesauthor.com)

The king and queen prove to be resourceful parents, encouraging Prince Woswy to tackle the scary dragon with the help of a magic sword and shield.

The tactic is so successful that the young prince and the dragon become playmates, inventing some new games with dragon-like twists.

As the storyline is based on dealing with nightmares, parents love the notes in the book on how to help children cope with bad dreams.

David decided to self-publish Prince Woswy and the Bad Dream as publishers did not want stories that had already been illustrated. It is available on Gemma’s Etsy website.

David’s other recent book is an historical novel, Angles or Angels? and it couldn’t be more different to the children’s story.

David said that he always wanted to write fiction. And now, he has combined his lifelong interest in the Anglo-Saxons with his research skills from his work as an academic, and has written an historical ‘love and betrayal’ story.

He was drawn to the idea as it was based on known facts and because a young woman plays a key role.

“We tend to think of the Anglo-Saxons in terms of their male warrior culture, but women played a very important role in their society and had more powers than in the following medieval periods. The book has some great battle scenes, but it is a love story too.”

Angles or Angels? is based in Anglo-Saxon Britain, 1,400 years ago. In 600AD regional kingdoms were engaged in a ruthless struggle for supremacy and British leaders in the north combined in a final effort to overthrow their two Anglo-Saxon rivals.

David likes to row as, he said” “It takes me back to Saxon times when it was the favoured form of transport.”

In order to survive, two Anglo-Saxon warlords tried to put aside their ancient rivalry, and Acha, daughter of one king, was chosen to act as ‘peace-weaver’ by marrying the rival leader.

When her intended husband killed her father and disinherited her young brother, she had to choose between her lover, her family and her duty.

Against a backdrop of military campaigns that decided the shape of northern Britain, the story follows the personal tragedies that forced siblings into rival camps. You can download a free sample of six chapters from the book on David’s website. or order it through the publisher, Troubador, online here Angles or Angels? or through bookshops and Amazon.