Dear Advanced Readers,

I hope most (if not all) of you have already downloaded your copy of Twiggy Rattlesnake and the School of Time and Space. Thank you to those who have sent back their feedback. For everyone else, please let me know by the end of this week.

I'm now at the stage of coming up with the back cover blurb––never the easiest thing to do, ironically.

First up, my designer has put this beautiful cover together:

The front and spine are finished––now for those back cover words. Taking inspiration from a number of books in the genre (including the first Harry Potter book), I've come up with this, which is part quote from the book, part overview, with the use of CAPITAL letters (surprisingly common in the genre) and the compulsory (it seems) inclusion of the word adventure.

***

With the front door open, there was no bike––he shouldn’t really have imagined such an impossible gift––but there was a box, sitting on the doorstep, his name written on the white tag that hung from the blue ribbon.

TWIGGY RATTLESNAKE is a cheerful boy. He’s adored by his grandparents, living with them for as long as he can remember. They have never had much. With the discovery of a SURPRISE BOX on the DOORSTEP on the eve of his thirteenth BIRTHDAY, he doesn’t know that his future is about to change––sending him on an ADVENTURE in TIME TRAVEL at the SCHOOL OF TIME AND SPACE, and opening his eyes to the truth of who he is.

***

As you'll also see in the design above (and something I've done with all my books now) there is space (hopefully) for a reader quote or two. So I need your help! If you can come up with something this week, something that is true for you (I'm not putting words in anyone's mouth) then please reply to this message and it might very well be the words that adorn the cover.

Do also please let me know about the blurb above––does it fit the story, does it work for you? Anything I should add, or change?

One aspect I love about this cover (and the future ones) is the white band on the spine––in year one, they wear White Armbands. So this pattern will continue through the series, the colour armband represented on the spine. Cool, right? There's also one more secret aspect, but this will come to light in time, so I'll let you see if you can work that one out in due course...

Thanks for reading, and do let me know your thoughts on the above and your few words of quote if you have them.

Tim