Justin Fisher

Ned's Circus of Marvels (Ned's Circus of Marvels, Book 1)
Justin Fisher

About Author

Justin Fisher has been a designer, illustrator and animator for both film and television. He has designed title sequences for several Hollywood film - from X-Men 2 to Charlie and The Chocolate Factory - branded music TV channels and has worked extensively in advertising. But after many years of helping to tell other people's stories, he's decided to write his own. Ned's Circus of Marvels is his first novel. When not lost in a place he calls beyond the Veil, Justin lives with his wife and three young children

Author link

www.circusofmarvels.com

Interview

NED'S CIRCUS OF MARVELS - THE GOLD THIEF

APRIL 2017

HARPERCOLLINS CHILDREN'S BOOKS


In this story of high adventure, startling machinery and hidden worlds, Ned returns to the band of adventurers in the Circus of Marvels in a bid to save his mum and dad - and the world as we know it.

This is the second book in the Circus of Marvels series in which Ned's special abilities as an Engineer draw him into a desperately evil plot - when all he really wants is an ordinary life at home, with his parents.

We spoke to author JUSTIN FISHER and asked him to tell us more about NED'S CIRCUS OF MARVELS - THE GOLD THIEF:


Q: The high adventure in the Ned's Circus of Marvels (books one and two) is wonderfully visual. Is your background in film making its way into your writing?

A: I definitely think my background has fed into that. When I was much younger I wanted to draw comics and for me, writing is drawing with words. When I worked on films - and I still do some work here - I loved getting the script from the director and doing the title sequence at the beginning, where you present the big idea for the film; no one knows that is an actual job! I have worked on films like the Bond film Spectre and The Shallows.


Q: This story begins with the mysterious disappearance of thousands of tonnes of gold in locked vaults. Why did you decide to make gold the element of choice for this story.

A: I think that gold is fascinating. It's a perfect conductor of energy, it's immune to rust or other kinds of degradation and for hundreds of years we have heard about alchemists wanting to turn things into gold.

I think I was also inspired by the James Bond film Goldfinger, where they break into Fort Knox and you see all this gold piled high. I thought it was wonderful that the most impregnable fortress can somehow be broken into, although in my story that is done with a musical box.


Q: Ned's world is full of surprising elements and in this story, you take us further into the hidden world behind the Veil. Is this idea of the 'other' that exists beyond the known something that appeals to you as a reader as well as a writer?

A: I've always loved the idea of that secret world, there have been so many fascinating books that have that idea, where you go through a cupboard or door to discover another world and most of the books I read, that's what I read them for - that world building, where you discover a different kind of world.

I often find that with the second book - and I found this while writing Ned's Circus of Marvels - that I love the wonder and discovery of the world so once you have discovered it and the world is realised, how do you maintain that lovely moment of 'wow' and wonder?

As a reader and a writer, I need that and I write the books for me first, I need the stories to be bigger and more explosive - and that is what I hope I have done with The Gold Thief.


Q: The Circus of Marvels troop - who help keep the hidden world's evil at bay - travel in an extraordinary flying machine and we see many such awe-inspiring machines in this story. How well do you visualise them, before you start to write them?

A: For the first book I drew the characters and make sketches of some of the world, which helps to build the story in my head, but I just didn't have time to do that for this book. I loved the machines and robots in this story, and I am excited about what happens with them in book three.

I love all the strange flying machines in this story and how varied they are. The Viceroy and his fleet of flying owls, for example, reminded me of aircraft carriers in World War I - you have these ships with huge owls on the deck, waiting to take off and join the fight.

You also have the creepy and scary Central Intelligence, a machine that is alive but it doesn't have a soul so it can't tell the difference between right and wrong. That is the driving force behind this story. But my favourite machine is much smaller - Ned's robotic mouse, Whiskers.


Q: Ned has two protectors, the shadow-like Gorrn and Whiskers the robotic mouse. Which of them would you like to bring back to your world, if you could?

A: I don't think I could choose between them. Whiskers is a robot but seems to have a heart of some sort, while Gorrn is useful in hiding Ned but he is also lazy and aggressive and Ned seems a bit frightened of him. Neither of them do what they are told, but I enjoy writing them.


Q: Ned, a gifted 'Engineer', and Lucy the Medic have to work closely together if they are to save the world from being taken over by the Darkening King. How does this affect their friendship in this story?

A: I think that Ned and Lucy are both dealing with their changing powers and how that affects their trust in each other. With their powers come very frightening changes and they don't know where those will lead. The focus of the story, though, is on Ned.


Q: Lucy relies on the character Jonny, a 'sin-eater', to help her through some of those changes. What inspired the idea of a 'sin-eater'?

A: I really enjoyed creating Jonny and the idea for a sin-eater came from English folk lore. People thought that sin-eaters were dark and nasty but at a funeral, you would pay them in milk and honey to take away the sins of the departed.


Q: Can you give us a glimpse of what to expect in book three?

A: Book three begins with Ned being so shocked at what he has done with his powers that he blocks himself from using them again so he has to learn to trust himself once more, while the action is leading up to an epic confrontation between good and evil.


Q: You love writing about great adventures - so what has been your biggest lifetime adventure?

A: Not a single one, other than the months I spent travelling around Thailand, Vietnam, Laos and Cambodia as a young hippy! I loved being in the middle of nowhere with just a backpack. Thailand was so visual, the sights and smells and sounds were nothing like I had ever experienced. I am half Italian so I had travelled there a lot but it didn't prepare me at all for the strange sights and sounds of Thailand markets!


Q: Where do you write?

A: I have an office at home and when I am fired up, I am constantly writing on my laptop. My escape is my design work - it's nice to do something completely different if you've been writing solidly for a month!

 

 


NED'S CIRCUS OF MARVELS

JULY 2016

HARPERCOLLINS CHILDREN'S BOOKS


Ned Waddlesworth is an ordinary boy leading an ordinary life until his 13th birthday reveals that his family and the world around him are anything but ordinary.

Debut author JUSTIN FISHER takes readers on a fabulous adventure in this story of a flying circus, evil clowns and an ancient curse. We asked him to tell us more about NED'S CIRCUS OF MARVELS:


Q: You have worked a lot in film but did you always have a secret wish to be a writer?

A: Actually what I really wanted to do was to draw comics. My dad was an architect and my mum was an interior designer so they were always drawing and I grew up with a pencil in my hand.

My brother is 11 years older than me and he introduced me to his comic collection when I was about eight and I fell completely in love with them! I loved comics like 2000AD but my absolute staple was the Marvel comics.

I wasn't any good at writing though, I was Mr Average in school. Although I loved comics and stories, when it came to writing I wasn't that great. Then when I was a little bit older I dicovered I couldn't draw either, at least not the kind of drawing skills that you need for comics. After that I fell a bit in love with graphic design and motion pictures and started working in designing title sequences for films.


Q: Is that what took you into creating the brilliant book trailer for Ned's Circus of Marvels? (www.circusofmarvels.com)

A: It took a million years to make that trailer because I had to draw all the characters and I hadn't done much drawing for years but I loved it and finished it before I finished writing the first draft of the book. It brought the story to life for me.


Q: What was the starting point for writing Ned's Circus of Marvels?

A: We were on holiday and my son was three at the time and needed an afternoon nap, so while he was sleeping I decided to start writing this story about a magical circus that I'd been playing around with. Once I started writing it I became addicted to writing the story.

For someone who has always wanted to draw stories, to draw a character or scene out of words is incredibly liberating. Some of the places Ned visits are so fantastical, I couldn't draw them.


Q: Has your love of comics also helped inspire Ned's Circus of Marvels?

A: I think my love of comics and drawing did guide me when I came to writing this. If you think about it, comics by nature are filled with superheroes and I think that characters in circuses are different kinds of superheroes, they have amazing powers and gifts. One of the characters in the story for example, Kitty, is a seer and her powers are amazing; Benissimo the circus master seems unable to die; the Glimmerman can walk through mirrors.

Plus superheroes always work as a team - think about the X Men or the Avengers - and the circus is a team of performers.

I also wanted to keep the pace of comics so every chapter ended in a cliff hanger and that pace never lets up.


Q: Are you also a fan of the circus?

A: I'm fascinated by old circuses. I remember taking my son to an old Victorian-style circus when he was three and we both had our mouths open for the entire show; it's like stepping back in time. That definitely inspired me when I was thinking about Ned's story.


Q: There are some quite creepy clowns in the story - do clowns make you a bit nervous?

A: The clowns in the story are absolutely horrible. I think in real life they can be a bit creepy, I think it's all their make up, and as I wrote them in I found some strange photos of clowns through the ages....


Q: In the story, Ned discovers that the world isn't as ordinary as he had thought. Was that 'other' world always part of his story?

A: I loved that the story began in the real world and then you go on a journey that takes you to this other place. What if life wasn't just about going to school and having your tea and going to bed? What if the things you saw as a child in the shadows were really there? I still love that idea - and I still believe in magic!


Q: Ned also discovers that he is less than ordinary since his father - and therefore Ned - are 'engineers'. Why do you go into so much detail about the engineer's role?

A: I thought that being an engineer could so easily just be about magic - that everything they do and change is simply because they are using magic. But I felt that in a world of magic, he needed to be slightly different. So he has a ring and he discovers that, learning how to use it, he can transform things at a molecular level. Lucy, the medic, is just as important as Ned is and they both have an important role to play if they are going to save the world.


Q: Who are your favourite characters in the story?

A: I love George, the urbane, talking gorilla, and Hello Kitty, the seer, who is bonkers but also very astute. And then there's Ned's dad, my real favourite because he really loves his son and tries to look out for him

Q: You also draw on quite a lot of mythology for the story - there are dragons, trolls and satyrs in the story, variously good or bad.

A: There is a mish mash of ideas drawn from mythology. The idea was that magic and therefore all the myths you've read about are true, like Kiron the dragon. Benissimo also has some sayings that go back to Ancient Greek times, so he might have a background in Italy, but there are also lots of Celtic myths in the story.

I love the idea that circuses today evolved from the circus at Ancient Rome, although they are more likely to be based on a Victorian's idea for a circus. But the idea that they could have come from Ancient Rome's Circus Maximus is great.


Q: Will there be more adventures for Ned and Lucy?

A: Definitely. In the next book, Lucy's powers are growing and changing so we will see more of her. In the next story, all the world's gold starts to go missing. Ned and Lucy have to confront a monster thief who has a photographic sense of smell - he can smell what he is hunting for anywhere - and he's really creepy.


Q: Where do you write your stories?

A: I just find somewhere to write at home but I move every 15 minutes so I'm in a different room or sitting on different sofa because I have the attention span of a gnat! Plus I drink about seven pints of coffee a day.

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