I grew up surrounded by stories. My mother filled my childhood with the magic of Tolkien, Ruth Manning-Sanders, Animals of Farthing Wood, Bramley Hedge, and My Friend Flicka - tales where the hidden world of nature was just waiting to be discovered if you looked closely enough. Later, as a teenager, Philip Pullman’s His Dark Materials stopped me in my tracks. When he introduced the Mulefa, he wasn’t just inventing creatures - he created an entirely new evolutionary system. That was the spark for me: the idea that fantasy could have roots in reality, that even mythical beings might have evolved under the strange pressures of another world. As a scientist at heart, I’ve carried that fascination ever since.

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My own childhood was one of freedom and wild exploration. I grew up on a farm, with endless opportunities to create my own adventures: building dens in the forest, stacking hay bales into towering forts, even trying (and failing) to build elaborate contraptions to trap my escaped pet rabbits. Out of boredom came invention, and out of invention came imagination. That freedom shaped who I am today, and I worry that many young people no longer have the same chance. Screens absorb so much of their attention; technology stores their memories for them. The deep work of experiencing, processing, and learning from life is being outsourced. For me, fantasy is a way back - a chance for children to explore in their minds, even if the world outside doesn’t always give them the space.

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That’s where my children’s fantasy novel was born. I asked myself: what if memory itself was the most precious resource of all? Not just remembering facts, but the full-bodied experience of living, feeling, and learning - and then passing that wisdom on. What would happen if someone tried to steal that away? From this question grew the idea of the Cocoeden: twin trees of life, sustained by a cycle of reciprocity, where Stonekeepers harness memory during life and return it at death. But what happens when that cycle is broken? The story that unfolds is both an adventure and a reflection of the world we live in now, where balance with nature is fragile and taking too much always has consequences.

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I imagine this book in the hands of any child who loves nature, mythical creatures, and the sense that magic might be hidden just out of sight. I wanted the world to feel so rooted in truth that a curious reader could Google almost anything from the story and find something real - a kind of play between fact and fantasy. In that way, the book sits in a space between science fiction and fantasy, blending the logic of evolution with the wonder of myth.

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Writing it wasn’t easy. I’m quick with ideas and determined to see them through, but I learned the hard way that planning is as important as inspiration. The story shifted along the way - from its early focus on Stonekeepers to the discovery that it needed a relic of power at its heart. But in that process, I learned patience, resilience, and more about my own creative practice than I ever imagined.

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At its core, the Stonekeepers series is about kindness, courage, and connection - values that have shaped me and that I hope will inspire young readers. I want children to see that adventure doesn’t just live in fantasy worlds: it can be found in the way seasons shift, in how your body moves through space, in the magic of paying attention to the natural world. If even one child comes away braver, more curious, and more resilient because of this story, then I will have done what I set out to do.

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That’s why I’m turning to Kickstarter to bring this book into the world. Self-publishing gives me the chance to do it right - to ensure the story is produced with care and given the best chance to find its readers. More than that, it gives me the chance to connect directly with the people who believe in it. I can’t wait to meet readers, hear how they see the world through their own imaginations, and maybe even inspire them to write stories of their own.

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This is the first step in something bigger - perhaps a series, perhaps a whole universe, perhaps even memory playgrounds or rides where children don’t just sit, but fly. Why stop at one book, when imagination is limitless?