Showcase: Timothy Other: The Boy Who Climbed Marzipan Mountain by L. Sydney Abel

12 year-old adventurer, the intriguingly named Timothy Other, escapes the Dreams and Hopes Orphanage and travels to the bizarre world of Marzipan Mountain, where he befriends some amazing creatures. With the help of his friends, Timothy seeks to discover his true origins and returns to the Orphanage. He becomes embroiled in a matter of life and death and faces the evil forces that crave the secret of ‘Golden Life’. 

L. Sydney Abel is the pen name of Lawrence Abel. The name was inspired by L. Frank Baum; the author of The Wonderful Wizard of Oz. Lawrence was born and raised in Kingston upon Hull, England. He is married and has two grown-up children. He attended Hull College, where he qualified as an Electronics Engineer. As a young aspiring musician, Lawrence composed the lyrics to his own music, progressing into the recording studio.

He began inventing stories during his children’s early years, never putting pen to paper. Years later, Lawrence was encouraged to revisit the stories from the past and write them down. He has written and illustrated several books for children and young adults. Lawrence has recently ventured into the world of adult fiction, where experiences of the supernatural kind stimulate his imagination.

connect on twitter: @lsydneyabel

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Q.  What inspires your writing?

A.  It sounds spooky and I suppose it is, but someone whispers into my ear. It’s not my thoughts, because the voice isn’t mine. It’s just a name or title, nothing more. Sometimes I wake up with a start, to what I call ‘midnight creation’. A few words or even a full sentence is spoken loudly enough to wake me from my dreams. Maybe I’m being channelled to write, I don’t know. It does sound far-fetched but I’m not making it up, honestly.

Q.  What is your favorite thing about being a writer?

A.  Making make-believe believable – to be the characters I’ve created, telling a story that possibly could be true. I’m on a fantastic, often frightening, adventure when I’m writing.

Let’s take my book ‘12:07 THE SLEEPING’ for example (scheduled for release 2016). Its idea came from something very real. I’ve been visited by something or someone since I was five. Whatever or whoever it was, climbed out of the wardrobe and walked towards me. Yes, I could have dreamt it but I didn’t. I’ve discovered this phenomenon is called Sleep Paralysis or better known as Hag’s Syndrome, where a creature of sorts comes into your room, crawls upon the bed and then crawls on you and…

I don’t know the ‘and’, I don’t want to know the ‘and’. I’ve over the years, allowed this creature to crawl over me, look me in the face and try to take my soul. Yes, my soul, for I truly believe that’s what it wants. Why? I don’t know. This creature has human shape, is draped in death’s black and has a white skull face where its eyes are hollow depths to hell. I call this creature THE SLEEPING, for it comes for me while I sleep, and yet I feel fully awake. Only something so true would make me write such a book. Truth is a fantastic, often frightening adventure all on its own. This is a case of making my believing your believing.

Q.  What is the toughest part of being a writer?

A.  Worrying if what I’ve written is good enough. I’m my biggest critic. The loneliness is hard but that’s part of being a writer. I need no distractions. You have to be immersed in the world you create – to be the character, living his/her existence (it’s acting in your head).

Writer’s block – I hate it. It’s not as if I don’t know the story, it’s sometimes just getting from one scene to the next.

Q.  If you could not be writer, what would you

do/be?

A.  I would like to be an artist. When I was young I wanted to be a display artist – creating shop window displays, then moving into graphic design. The artist part is still with me when I create the illustrations for my children’s books.

Q.  What would the story of your life be entitled?

A. ‘The lost soul’.

Q.  What is your favorite book of all time?

A.  J. R. R. Tolkien’s The Lord of the Rings – Now

that’s an adventure everyone should go on. 

Q.  Which character from ANY book are you most like?

A.  I’d say Sherlock Holmes. If something is baffling me I have to solve the problem – I’ve an analytical mind. I asked my wife this question and she said I’m Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde!

Q.  What character from all of your books are you most like?

 A.   At the moment, I’m James from ‘12:07 THE

SLEEPING’.  When I was younger, I could have been Timothy from my latest book, ‘Timothy Other – the boy who climbed Marzipan Mountain’.

Q.  Which book would you love to take a weekend

vacation inside of?

A.  C. S. Lewis’s The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe – To join Lucy, Edmund, Susan, Peter and the Narnians fight the White Witch and make Aslan, the great lion, the rightful King of Narnia. I think I’ll be gone for more than a weekend though.

 Q.  What is your favorite season?

A.  Spring.  It’s a time of rebirth – the Phoenix of seasons.

Q.  What inspired your book

cover(s)?  Or what is your favorite book cover and why?

A.  Before I embark on my fictitious journey, I create a book cover and a background wallpaper to put on my monitor. The cover is of course only an idea for the publisher. The background is there to continually remind me of how important it is to finish the journey. On my children’s book Ish-ish Ishbochernay, I wanted it to look like a book of spells with a photo of the witch looking directly at you. The photo is from an old photo album of mine, a relative whose name I don’t even know. It’ll be interesting to see what my publisher does with it!

Q.  Tell me something funny that happened while on a

book tour or while promoting your book.

A.  While promoting my book Timothy Other on Facebook, Gloria Jones (the once partner of Marc Bolan of T. Rex) showed interest. She said she would soon be sitting down with my book and asked where we could meet. I of course, gave her my address. I think she believes I’m well known! Watch this space…

Q.  Are you working on something new?

A. Yes, a paranormal book called ‘the soul spook’ –

‘The night sky was pierced like an overstretched balloon. In that split second, all that could be seen was the whitest light imaginable. The sound that followed was louder than a bellman’s call, a lunatic’s screams and a wild dog’s yowl, all put together. That crack of thunder called the dead to listen, and listen they did. Nothing made another sound, except an infant’s cry. A child had entered into a dust-blown world, by the heavens command. This child would grow up being different’.

Q.  Anything you want to say to followers of this blog

or those that are just stopping by?

A.  Life’s too short so set sight on your goals and go for them. You never know, you may even achieve your dreams!  After all, it’s better to try and fail, than to never try at all.