Ash Bond
About Author
Ash Bond writes magical stories that have classical myth sprinkled through them like fairy dust. Look out for her debut, Peregrine Quinn and the Cosmic Realm.
As soon as she picked up a book of Greek myths in her local library, Ash was hooked and she went on to study Classics at Oxford University before spending five years working in Asia, as an outdoor guide in China and teaching English Literature in Malaysia.
Back in the UK, she studied writing at Bath Spa University. She is also a yoga teacher and loves to move - swimming in rivers, stomping up mountains or doing cartwheels.
Interview
Peregrine Quinn and the Cosmic Realm (Piccadilly Press)
April 2024
Look out for mythical characters, magical gadgets and guardian librarians in this myth-packed, action-centred story about secret portals and the Cosmic Realm! We find out from author Ash Bond what inspires her to write about myths and magic, and which mythical god she would choose to meet for a cuppa!
Review: 'Packed with magic and myth, action and adventure - an unputdownable read from the very first page!'
Read a Chapter from Peregrine Quinn and the Cosmic Realm
Q&A with Ash Bond, introducing Peregrine Quinn and the Cosmic Realm
"When I was growing up, I loved nothing better than sitting in the local library and getting lost in another world
and the librarians were always there to guard that concentration, that adventure."
1. Peregrine Quinn and the Cosmic Realm is your first book for children - what got you into writing, and what other kinds of work have you done?
I honestly can't remember a time when I wasn't writing, it was always a compulsion, a need to put what I was experiencing on paper. Because of that, I don't think I can answer truthfully what got me into writing, as it has always been around… like air, or chocolate.
I have done a lot of different jobs - waiting tables (a lot of that), teaching English Literature and Art in Malaysia, outdoor guiding in China, and then working as a Curriculum Learning Mentor back in the UK. I'm currently studying for my PhD at the University of Bristol, where I am a GTA and teach over the Creative Writing and Classics departments. When I'm not at my desk - either for my PhD or for Peregrine - I love to run, camp and climb… basically I try and get outdoors as much as I can.
2. What have been your favourite debut author moments so far?
I used to be a Waterstones bookseller and so when I meet a bookseller that has read Peregrine I almost can't believe it! That's very special and very strange to be on the ‘other side' of the desk. Talking of desks, I had a Zoom call with some Librarians the other day and that was wonderful. As you can tell from the book, I think Librarians are absolute heroes and to hear their enthusiasm for the book was so heart-warming.
"Expect high stakes, lots of running and a duck called Arthur."
3. Can you tell us who is Peregrine Quinn, how did you name her, and what is her first adventure all about?
I do love a name with four syllables, and I also love birds. I am noodling with a few stories at the moment, and all of the main characters have bird names. I'm not sure why that is, but my Grandma - who also loved birds - was a ‘Wren' in the war (WRNS - Women's Royal Naval Service), and we always used to call her by a bird name. Maybe that is also why I love acronyms!
Peregrine's first adventure finds her attempting to break into the Bodleian Library in Oxford with her godfather Daedalus. They have a very good reason, as the portals between the Cosmic Realm (that's Olympus) and the Terran Realm (that's Earth) have broken down and only Daedalus can fix them. Unfortunately, Daedalus is then kidnapped, which means it is up to Peregrine and her new allies - dryad Librarian Rowan Strong and faun Callimachus Thorn - to journey through the riverways of London and across the Under Under Ground (UUG) to the Alexandrian Library before an ancient Chaos goddess is released! Expect high stakes, lots of running and a duck called Arthur.
4. What inspired this story of mythological characters, Mount Olympus and magical gadgets?
Like many debuts, Peregrine Quinn and the Cosmic Realm is, I think, a melting pot of all of my loves. In this case - mythology, fantasy and science fiction all thrown in to create what to me feels like a world that has always existed in my imagination.
That is one of the many reasons why I love the Cosmic Realm, there is a logic behind everything that just makes a lot of sense to me. Why would the lesser gods - the Class B/C immortals - not make use of technology to keep ahead of those mortals?
5. And why have you put librarians, and libraries, at the heart of this story?
In 'Peregrine' Librarians are guardians of the portals, of the entrances into other worlds. When I was growing up, I loved nothing better than sitting in the local library and getting lost in another world and the librarians were always there to guard that concentration, that adventure.
"If I had had the opportunity to step into a world of myths as a child, I would absolutely have done so - I would have jumped,
two feet first… and dealt with the consequences later!"
6. Are Peregrine Quinn's adventures a little wish-fulfillment on your part, given your love of classics (Ancient Greek inventor as godfather, for starters?). Is there something of you in her?
I would love to think that there was something of me in Peregrine. I think we both share an uncanny ability of getting into trouble and for acting first, and thinking later. For example, as I type this, I have ice packs on both ankles after deciding to jump a little too far down from a rock climb a couple of days ago.
Peregrine's search for belonging - in her case, her sense that she really does belong to the Cosmic Realm in some way - is something that I think we can all relate to. If I had had the opportunity to step into a world of myths as a child, I would absolutely have done so - I would have jumped, two feet first… and dealt with the consequences later!
7. How much fun did you have modernising these Greek archetypes, from Daedalus to dryads? How did you approach this, and which one(s) would you like to spend some Terran time with here on Earth?
I do remember the day when Daedalus came strolling into my head. Of course named after the ancient Architect of the labyrinth, he tipped his hat and I knew at once exactly who he was. I would like to take credit for the craft of creating him, but I think he - like many of the characters in the book - was an amalgam of the mythological characters that had been walking around my head since I was a child, and the people that I have known since.
Daedalus, while being based in some way on Merlin and Leonardo Da Vinci, is also based on an old family friend called John who passed away over lockdown. Of course I would choose to have just another cup of tea with him.
8. Which of their Cos gadgets would you like to have access to, and what would you use it for?
Oh the CosBugs for sure. I am forever losing my keys, my phone… everything! It would be so handy to have a gadget that could attach itself to my rucksack and remind me of where I had to be and when!
"On the whole it is the feeling - of surprise, wonder and adrenaline - that I am trying to capture and pass
from my pen (as I race to get the idea down) and into Peregrine's pages."
9. Did you draw on any particular places for the settings in the novel, including the Under Under Ground and other portal-inspiring places?
Although I wrote the majority of the first book during lockdown, I have been very lucky to have visited and lived in many wild and beautiful places. For the Under Under Ground, I was thinking of the caves in Yangshuo. Yangshuo is an incandescently gorgeous town in South China, near Guilin. Either side of a central river are hundreds of mountains called karsts, these karsts are hollow so you can - and I did - walk inside.
10. There are a lot of questions left open at the ending of book 1 - what else do you have planned for Peregrine Quinn? Where do you prefer to write her adventures, and have you drawn on any of your own real life adventures for these books?
I am just editing Book 2 now, and I am having so much fun! There are new characters, and we get plenty more information about our old favourite ones. Of course we've posed some new questions too… we've got some more adventures to come!
If I had a choice, I would always write outside - weather dependent! I write long hand first, before transferring onto the laptop which takes a bit longer, but it does mean I can go for a long walk with a notebook and scrawl down ideas when inspiration strikes.
I do like seeking out adventures… and I'm sure some of them find their way into Peregrine's story. I have just edited a scene in Book 2 for example where Peregrine has to hold her breath underwater, and I was thinking very much of when I free-dive off the Cornish coast. But on the whole it is the feeling - of surprise, wonder and adrenaline - that I am trying to capture and pass from my pen (as I race to get the idea down) and into Peregrine's pages.
Peregrine Quinn and the Cosmic Realm
