Steve Sheppard was born and grew up in Surrey before moving to Buckinghamshire and then to Oxfordshire, where he spent a quarter of a century living in an idiosyncratic village that was the affectionate inspiration for his fourth book, Lazytown. He now lives in Hampshire. He spent forty years starting to write books but not finishing them, until belatedly realising that the key is not to give up. The other thing he has since learned is that he should have become a celebrity before writing a book, as this would have made selling it much easier.

False Connections, Steve’s fifth book, was published in June and is the first to be written as a straight thriller and not primarily as a comedy although, don’t worry, there’s still quite a lot of humour in it. He hopes it will be the first of a series featuring feisty, funny but flawed ex-MI5 agent, Mel Milano. He also has three spy thrillers with laughs to his name, all published by Claret Press: A Very Important Teapot (2019), set in Australia, Bored to Death in the Baltics (2021), not set in Australia, and Poor Table Manners (2024), which takes place in Cape Town. These feature an initially fairly hapless hero, Dawson, and a considerably less hapless heroine, Lucy, together with varied supporting casts, most of whom are not who they claim to be. Steve’s fourth book (as mentioned above) is an out-and-out comedy-murder-mystery, Lazytown (2025).

Chris publishes his fiction under the nom de plume Chris Foster Tolley, reserving Chris Walklett for his work on using music in education, particularly English Language Teaching.

Although Chris has been writing across various genres for years, Trip ’89 marks his debut novel. Born out of extra time brought on by lockdown, the idea began with a desire to explore a pivotal historical era and soak the narrative in the spirit of the times. Blending rigorous research with personal memories of the eighties – and particularly 1989, a landmark year by any standard – the narrative evolved over six years into Trip ’89: vibrant, rich in memorable characters, humour, and historical insight. What emerged has been described as possibly the world’s first ‘multimedia novel’, complemented as it is by explanatory notes, socio-culturally focused book club questions, and two curated playlists.

Alongside his fiction, Chris is widely recognized as a prominent figure in ELT, specializing in the use of music and songs in the classroom. Under his Teaching Tracks umbrella, he published the widely acclaimed, ‘timeless’ Top Ten series, dedicated to harnessing the power of songs, song lyrics, and music in language learning and education.

Through Tracks Publications, Chris unites his creative and educational work under a single vision: exploring how music, history and culture shape our lives. He will be exhibiting both his brand-new novel Trip ’89 as well as a selection of Teaching Tracks materials.

Peter Fockema is an unapologetic history enthusiast who founded Blancart Press in 2026 as an engine through which to put historical fiction into print.

His debut novel, The Uncrowned Lion, is a historical political thriller set in the treacherous heart of fourteenth-century medieval England.

“Gentlemen, the inheritance of England is to play for.

England, 1376. The aging king, once the terror of the French, has lost his ability to govern and finds himself hidden from sight to live out his final years as a shameful secret. His son and heir, the famed Black Prince who was once England’s pride, is also at death’s door. The death of both the monarch and his heir would leave behind a ten-year old boy to be king – albeit a puppet one on strings.

The king’s other son, the Duke of Lancaster, is charged with running England whilst his father and brother wither – a task he has failed at abysmally. The kingdom’s borders lie undefended and enemy forces raid up and down the bankrupt country. Succumbing to his own avarice, the duke and his friends descend like crows upon a corpse to feast on the still-breathing body of England. Reeling from the fallout, Alfonse and his father, Henry Penenden, find themselves teetering on the edge of ruin. Enraged, they join a camp that’s filled with lords, bishops, and merchants that are all opposed to the Duke of Lancaster who seems determined to swallow England whole.”

Saskia van der Zee is a crime writer inspired by the rugged beauty of the Shropshire Hills, a passion first sparked by the adventure books of her childhood. She holds a degree in Medieval History from the University of Oxford and an MA in Creative Writing.

Across an eclectic career as a teacher, voice coach, and equine massage therapist, books have always been her first love. She wrote her first novel for her children — now long grown-up — in a yellow camper van parked at the bottom of Ashes Hollow on the Long Mynd.

When she is not writing, Saskia can be found exploring the hills with her partner or reading in front of a log fire. She lives in Shropshire, juggling her writing with caring for a menagerie of horses, dogs and cats.

She is the author of the DI Georgie Fraser series, set in the iconic Shropshire Hills National Landscape and published by her own Dove Cottage Press. The latest in series, Bones of Caer Caradoc, was released on 29th September.

Drawn to thrillers, suspense and murder mysteries, Brooke has always loved stories that keep readers guessing and build tension until the very last page. Writing Fateful Endings gave her the opportunity to create the kind of gripping mystery she has always enjoyed reading herself.

“Dr Lorna Robinson is the founding director of the Iris Project, a charity which runs a range of classics-based initiatives in state schools and communities. She is also the founding director of the Rumble Museum at Cheney School, the first accredited museum in a school.

Her latest novel is “Oread”:

“Two hundred years have passed since the UK government instituted a bold new programme to pair every citizen with a tree. Known as the Hamadryad Charter, it created vast national forests, major civic festivals and a whole new system of personal names. Deep in the tunnels beneath London, a community has been growing which rejects the Charter. Tensions between the two societies are rising sharply. When a lone Hamadryad finds his way into the underground, a terrible tragedy threatens to unfold. Oread is the sequel to Hamadryad, but can be read as a standalone novel.”

She is also the author of three other novels.

Hamadryad – is a blend of sci-fi, ancient Roman religion and dystopian fiction, the novel imagines a near future where humans are bonded to trees.

The Birder – is a magical realist novel set in a world where people transform into animals instead of dying. The novel is illustrated throughout with linocuts depicting birds in locations around the city of Oxford.

Flower Gathers – is inspired by the mysterious Minoan Civilisation, the novel re-imagines both ancient lives and modern ones in a new exploration of an ancient setting.”