Set partly in our world and partly in the world of Aurobon, The Dreamwalker’s Child is the debut novel of Steve Voake. Here is an extract from the book: "Ever since learning to crawl, Sam had followed woodlice to the cracks in the skirting board, knelt by ants as they cleaned up spilt sugar and watched bumble-bees bouncing from fox-glove to forget-me-not. Where most children ran away from wasps, Sam ran after them, watching them hunt among the long grass and listening to the faint scrape and scratch of their jaws on the wooden window-frame as they chewed it into a pulp for their papery nests. "But just recently, he had noticed something else. "At first he had thought that it was just his imagination. But the more he looked around him, the more he began to believe that it was true. "The insects were starting to follow him..." About Sam Palmer | "It wasn't until I was tracked and bitten by a horsefly that I got the idea for The Dreamwalker's Child." | | Steve Voake |
Sam Palmer hates living in the country. Life is dull and he has no friends until a bizarre bicycle crash leaves his body in a coma. Now he has far bigger problems. Sam wakes in Aurobon, a world similar to his own, but with crucial differences, not least of all - insects the size of fighter jets. Sam finds himself a wanted man, on the run from the evil Odoursin and his minions as part of a dastardly scheme that threatens to reach beyond Aurobon and into Sam's own world. Aided by Skipper - an adrenalin-loving pilot - Sam must join the fight against Odoursin and find his way home. Bitten by the writing bug Steve has always been fascinated by insects: "But it wasn't until I was tracked and bitten by a horsefly that I got the idea for The Dreamwalker's Child. "It took 18 months to write the book. With a busy school and family life, to make the time to write, I had to get up at half past three and work through until dawn." Kilmersdon Primary School is known as the Jack and Jill School. It is famous for having the original well from the nursery rhyme in its playground at the top of the hill. Steve is married with two children, a guitar and a small rabbit. His daughter Daisy was the inspiration for Skipper, the feisty heroine of the novel. Fantasy at its best "The Dreamwalker's Child represents fantasy literature at its very best - alternative world, breath-taking action scenes, the most fabulous female character I have ever met," says Julia Wells from Steve's publishers, Faber & Faber. Cllr Pauline Clarke, who's in charge of Lifelong Learning at Somerset County Council, says: "Many congratulations to Steve and to Kilmersdon Primary School, who can be proud of being associated with a success story that I'm sure this book will be." The book will soon be available in Europe and beyond. Steve has already signed a deal with publishers in Italy, Germany, Greece and Japan. | 
