The first in a delightful action-packed four-book series, acclaimed writer Lucy Coats uses her original and funny voice to bring to life the gods, goddesses and mythical beasts of the ancient Greek pantheon.
What begins as just another ordinary day for Demon ends up being far from normal ...because travelling on a rainbow to Mount Olympus is a bit odd for anyone, even if your dad is the Greek god Pan! When his long-lost father appears and takes him to the kingdom of the gods to look after their mythical beasts, Demon is in for a shock. The stables are full of creatures like an ill Hydra, flatulent Cattle of the Sun and a very grumpy Griffin. All Demon's animal husbandry skills, polished on his mother's farm on Earth, are going to be put to a rather exacting test as he tries to sort out the chaos and neglect and at the same time deal with the upset and concern of the gods. Can the eleven-year-old stableboy help the Nemean lion that Heracles has hurt, and avoid incurring Hera's wrath if he can't heal her pet Hydra ...The first in a delightful action-packed four-book series, acclaimed writer Lucy Coats uses her original and funny voice to bring to life the gods, goddesses and mythical beasts of the ancient Greek pantheon.
Lucy Coats: "My first proper job was as an editor in children’s book publishing, so I know what the world of books is like from both an editor’s and a writer’s perspective. While I was doing that I won a poetry competition, and then I submitted a poem for an anthology which was being commissioned by my boss. I used a pseudonym, and keeping my mouth shut while all the other editors were discussing whether it was any good or not is nearly the hardest thing I’ve ever done. A Woobit Song got chosen on merit, and was the first thing I ever had published.
Unfortunately (or fortunately as it turned out for my writing career), I became very sick with something called myalgic encephalomyelitis when I returned from working as an editor in America, and I had to give up my publishing job. That was when I really turned to writing as a way of keeping my brain occupied. My first book One Hungry Baby was published in 1992, and I’ve been writing for children ever since. I have been married to Richard-from-Uni since 1989.We now have two teenage kids—a boy and a girl—and also three dogs—two black labradors and a weird and obstinate Dandie Dinmont terrier (a rare British breed which looks like a very small highland cow without horns and on mega-short legs. It has black boot-button eyes under a blonde fringe and sounds like a bass Great Dane when it barks, which it does continuously). We also have a horse and an ancient guinea-pig. We all live in Northamptonshire, surrounded by sheep, more horses, noisy birds and a view of my stone circle that inspires me every single day."