I am excited! On Monday 26th May, Children of the Crater, the first novel from the very 
talented Connor Cadellin McKee is launched to the world. Lucky world! Having had the privilege of editing this book, I know first hand just how good it is – a dark dystopian fantasy which raises all sorts of questions and will leave you breathless. Here’s what Connor has to say about it
Five years ago, my 16 year old self had a dream. One of those really vivid ones that makes you sit up in the night and scrabble for a pen and paper because it was so vivid.
Now, I used to write down an awful lot of these, but this one was special. My recollection was fragmented, but I had the important pieces. A man tumbling down into a crater ringed with riot police. Flying above the night sky, green flames writhing across my skin. A longhouse hidden deep in the jungle. It was fantastic; I wanted to meet these characters, learn their story.
I used to do sketches from the more vivid dreams, and I got to work pretty quickly on this one. I tried making it into a graphic novel originally, but the sheer level of drawing needed for that dissuaded me. It wasn’t until that summer that I had the idea of writing it down on a computer. It weaved and shifted as the years went by; I continually chopped it up, rearranged it, threw in new sections, and it began to materialize from a myriad of different scraps of paper and text documents on my old laptop.
And suddenly the release date is upon me! It feels almost unreal; I had never expected it to come this far. Children of the Crater as it is now called, is a book sitting on my shelf, with my name and the character I once sketched out on an airline napkin. It almost makes me wonder how many undiscovered worlds are out there, sitting in desk drawers.
Today ‘When Joe Met Alice’ has officially entered the big wide world, and a long held dream has been realised. I have had something published! Please excuse me if I sound a little excited – in fact no, make that a big excited. As a writer you hope one day you will find yourself in print, be it paper and ink or pixels and screen, but that is tempered by all sorts of things, the vagaries of the market, what’s hot and what’s not, writer’s block, a good dose of self doubt etc., etc. However, at the risk of starting to sound like someone making a bad Oscar’s speech, I have been lucky enough to have family and friends that encouraged, enthused and occasionally nagged me, until the light at the end of the tunnel turned into sunshine and 
Well, the day is nearly here and I can hardly believe it. Tomorrow ‘When Joe Met Alice’ is officially released as an e-book, and will be available in all the usual places. ‘When Joe Met Alice’ is a romance with a magical twist, set around Halloween, which is why I’m so pleased it’s coming out now, so close to the day itself. Not surprisingly, I love Halloween, the history and the mystery, the chance to dress up and have fun, while remembering all those that have gone before. It’s a night where in the past I’ve scared myself silly swapping ghost stories with friends and watching daft horror films from behind a cushion. However now I prefer something a little gentler and kinder to my sleep pattern. Alice and Joe gave me the perfect story to celebrate with. So if you like something bitter-sweet and a little spooky, let me invite you into their world tomorrow. I hope you enjoy it!