BOOKS


Author Interview A F Steadman


A F Steadman’s début began as a list of promising unicorn names, but following an epiphany in Waterstones, it unfurled into a full-blown mystical realm


Fiona Noble @fionanoblebooks T


he prologue to Skandar and the Unicorn Thief opens to a scene of chaos: eight marauding beasts gnash bloody teeth, unfurl skeletal wings and take aim with razor-sharp horns. Here are unicorns as you have never seen them before, a deliciously dark antidote to the gentle, rainbow-hued creatures which dominate so many children’s books. “I remember really vividly having the image of bloodthirst unicorns in my head,” author Annabel Steadman (who will write under the name A F Steadman) tells me over video call from her home in North London. She began writing down unicorn names in a litle black notebook—New-Age Frost, Scoundrel’s Luck, Red Night’s Delight—“and then I saw an image of a boy riding a unicorn.” Steadman put the idea on hold for several years but happily for middle-grade readers Skandar is now the first in a planned five-book fantasy series to be launched by Simon & Schuster Children’s Books this April. In this magical world, unicorns may be naturally murderous but the good news is that they can be tamed by bonding with a young rider. Each year, 13-year-olds are invited to take the Hatchery Exam, which uncovers a lucky few destined to bond with their own unicorn. These children are transported to a secret island where they train as riders, hatching their unicorn and bonding with it. Enter


22 4th February 2022


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