We met with Andrew Symon recently whose first book comes out tomorrow, Saturday 20 April 2013. Symon already has the other two books in the Shian Quest Trilogy written however, so clear is the story in his head.
Although the author lives in Perth the story is set below Edinburgh Castle and centres around Jack a twelve year old who is part human, part Shian. The secret to the Shian powers lies in the Destiny Stone, and their power strengthens when the stone is returned to Scotland.
“When Jack Shian was twelve, he was just growing into his magycks.
The Shian had always had magycks. Some had a little, some a little more. Charms,hexes,healing – all sorts. The magycks became much stronger when the Destiny Stone came home – it even opened up the Shian square under Edinburgh castle once more. Little wonder that the Shian celebrated; the Stone had been gone for hundreds of years, you see. That’s hundreds of years in human time and Shian time. They’re not always the same……”
Andrew Symon was born in Athens to Scottish parents, then moved to Tokyo and then London. After his first job as a Labour Ward porter, he trained as a nurse, then as a midwife, working in a variety of hospitals in Scotland and England. He spent one year as a volunteer midwife in Kenya, where he met his wife. They have two teenage sons. Returning to Scotland from Kenya he obtained a Social Policy and Law degree in 1992 and a PhD in 1997, both from Edinburgh University. He is a Street Pastor, unofficial padre in the Tartan Army, and a senior lecturer at Dundee University, where he has written and edited several books in his field. He is also a visiting professor in Ceará, Brazil, so at least one Scotland fan got to go to Brazil! The SHIAN QUEST TRILOGY is his fiction debut.
The book is published by Black & White Publishing in paperback original and the formal launch is tomorrow in Perth.
Founding Editor of The Edinburgh Reporter.
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