“Life starts all over again when it gets crisp in the fall.” – F. Scott Fitgerald, The Great Gatsby

Well, it’s been a long, hot summer, but now it’s officially autumn. For me that means it’s time to get writing. I am writing the second book in the Glastonbury Twins series. The working title is Time Angels of Santa Maria. Althea and Jack are trying to help out their mum. This involves travelling back in time to the island where Althea was born. It’s called Santa Maria and is in the Caribbean. It’s another quest story and once again, they need the help of the mysterious time-travelling man with the silver beard. They also meet a strange man on the island and get mixed up with some ancient folklore. Althea finds out more about her special powers and why she has them. “Silver Beard” reveals the truth about who he is and how he and Althea are connected. It’s mind-blowing stuff!!

Aunty Becky featured a bit in The Glastonbury Twins: Book One – Angels of Avalon. The question is, who exactly is she and will she feature more in the second and third books? Okay, so Becky Vellacott is Jim Vellacott’s sister. Jim was Maria’s husband. He unfortunately lost his life in the Santa Maria hurricane. Like Maria, Becky misses Jim and has been quite depressed. She is around 30 and she helps Gran out with their shop, Crystal Visions, in Glastonbury. Becky is developing a vintage clothing section in the shop. She herself is quite bohemian, which fits in very well with the vibe of Glastonbury. She is also a singer and performs in and around Glastonbury. She is due to play an important part in the third book as music and harmony are big themes, well it is Glastonbury after all.

I know some people prefer not to buy their books from a well-known company with long river associations! You can get hold of The Mermaid of Doom Bar or Angels of Avalon direct from me if you’d prefer. Or, of course, they are available on many other sites, including Waterstones, Blackwells etc. You could also order copies from your local bookshop.

Happy reading!

The Glastonbury Twins series was dreamt up before Covid struck. It is a coincidence that the overall theme of the books is healing and harmony. The third book in particular is about healing the community. One message of the books is that however bad things may seem, you are not alone and help is available. It may seem that it is magic that helps out, but really beneath it all it is the kindness of our fellow humans. Althea and Jack are a bit like two sides of a coin. They are not really twins and have almost opposite characteristics. Together they make a fabulous team and their mission is to help, heal and to promote harmony. Althea finds out more about her superpowers in the second book, which is being written right now!

Happy reading everyone.

Althea and Jack are on their travels again, through time and space on another important quest.

The fictional Caribbean island of Santa Maria, where Althea was born.

The twins’ mother is very upset and Althea and Jack need to come up with a plan. It involves travelling through time and space – back to Santa Maria where Althea was born, where Althea had survived the terror and devastation of a hurricane. As ever things don’t go according to plan. They also meet a very mysterious character on the island, as well as their old friend “Silver Beard”. Their quest also connects them to an old Caribbean legend as well as some strange and mystical stories. Althea finds out something incredible about herself and the logical Jack is just forced to accept that there isn’t an explanation for everything.

This is what I’m working on now, after a pleasant summer’s break.

Happy reading to you all.

Althea is a determined, kind and thoughtful girl. She has been born with a special gift – her “crystal visions” as Gran calls them. She has visions and special senses. Sometimes they are of the future, sometimes of a past that she surely couldn’t remember. Sometimes they are some kind of warning. Her special gift,as she has recently discovered, also allows her to time-travel! Her mission in life, so it seems is to promote harmony, to help and to heal. More of this will become clearer in the next book in The Glastonbury Twins series.

Althea is a black girl who was born on the fictional Caribbean island of Santa Maria. This island is central to Book Two in the series. Althea and Jack will meet some interesting characters and Althea will find out more about her special gift. The mysterious, time-travelling, silver bearded figure will also feature and you will find out just who he is – kind of! Happy reading.

There is a lot of talk about BAME characters being represented in children’s books at the moment. In Angels of Avalon, Althea, one of the Glastonbury Twins, is a black girl, unlike her “twin” who is actually quite pale and has faintly gingery hair. As you gradually find out, they are not twins at all but actually cousins. Althea’s back story begins to come out towards the end of the book. Althea has afro puffs and is quite “dinky” as she says. You will find out a lot more about her and her special gifts in the next book in the series; Angels of Avalon is very much not a stand-alone book. Althea comes from the fictional island of Santa Maria in the Caribbean. Just how she came to be in Glastonbury becomes a lot clearer in the next instalment in the Glastonbury Twins series.

I hope you enjoy reading Angels of Avalon which takes place over springtime in Glastonbury and Tintagel. It is the first of The Glastonbury Twins series. I am working on the next one right now! It would be fabulous if you could comment on how you found it – either here on the blog or as a review on Amazon. Happy reading!

Across Twitter, Facebook and Instagram, you can enter this small competition to win a signed copy of Angels of Avalon. All you need to do is follow and share/retweet or like and say why you might want a copy on Instagram. The winner will be randomly chosen and will be announced on Sunday evening (18th April) – before Line of Duty, obviously! Twitter @KeithMaxwell21 , Instagram keithmaxwell21 Good luck! Meanwhile, Angels of Avalon is available NOW on Amazon – instantly as an ebook or within a day or two as a paperback. Happy reading.

Angels of Avalon, the first book in The Glastonbury Twins series is now out. It’s currently available as a Kindle ebook and as a paperback on Amazon. It will be available elsewhere soon. Take a journey with Althea and Jack as they go on a quest to help their family. They travel back in time in Glastonbury and make an essential visit to Cornwall. Their perilous quest involves time travel, a vicious spriggan, water sprites, spells, curses, a mysterious silver-bearded time traveller, Althea’s gift of vision, Jack’s forensic brain and above all, the love in their family. It is what you might call middle grade magic realism – roughly for 7-12 year olds – but really it’s for anyone who likes reading stories