Malamander (An Eerie-on-Sea Mystery)

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Herbie thinks he has drowned aboard the Leviathan. He thinks, “It’s not cold, though, so I guess being as dead as driftwood has an upside.” However, Herbie is warm because he was rescued. He feels the effects of nearly drowning, his “chest and throat feel as if they’re on fire”. When Boat Hook Man is arguing with Eels, Eels says, “Don’t you wave that hook at me.” Boat Hook Man then warns Eels that the malamander will kill him if he goes after its egg. Later, Herbie watches as “Eels brings his fist down on the desk.” Boat Hook Man tells Eels about his pursuit of the egg. He says, “I lost everything — my ship, my fine men, even my family, in the end.” Eels uses the egg to transform malamander into a tentacle-ridden sea creature to restrain Boat Hook Man. “As we watch, the scaly corpse of the monster quivers and splits, and dozens of fleshy tendrils shoot up from it.” Eels then magically replaces Boat Hook Man’s hook with a crab pincer. Boat Hook Man uses it “to cut through one of the tentacles holding him by using his new claw.” In response, Eels turns Boat Hook Man “into a mass of squid and jellyfish and sea slime.” Something very strange happens at the end of the story. Are there any plans for Herbert and Violet to return in a sequel?

Herbie calls an action in the story of Captain K “bonkers.” The museum owner agrees and says the captain was “drunk with power.” The book dispensary has an animatronic mermonkey, a monkey that “has the lower body of a fish” and dispenses the identification code for a book that it feels the reader needs. Jenny, who owns the dispensary says, “It’s the book that chooses you.” Herbie also tells Violet that many believe the machine to have “a sense of humor, too” because Herbie “met a man once who swears he belched in front of the mermonkey and got dispensed a copy of Gone with the Wind.” Write so that the reader feels like they are inside in the story. You do this by showing the reader what’s happening, not simply telling them what’s going on. Captain K, also known as Boat Hook Man, wished to “live forever” and the egg granted that wish. The egg responds, “But if you lose [the egg], your wish shall become your curse.” Captain K’s “wounds closed up as soon as they opened, and his injuries healed.”Always look out for surprising things to say, or ways to say ordinary things in a surprising manner. This is important for keeping the reader engaged. Author Thomas Taylor talks to Ian Eagleton about his new book Malamander, Greek myths, mysteries and monsters, and his exciting plans for a sequel… You can find out more about Thomas Taylor and his work here!

Twelve-year-old Herbert Lemon lives and works in the Grand Nautilus Hotel in the strange and frequently foggy seaside town of Eerie-on-Sea. The hotel’s ‘lost and founder’, he’s tasked with cataloguing lost things and trying to find their owners. But his newest ‘lost’ item is rather different: an enigmatic girl called Violet Parma. The word malamander sounds very similar to salamander, which is derived from ancient Greece. Did the ancient Greek myths influence your writing at all? How did you decide on a name for the mysterious creature in the story? Mermonkeys, monsters and magic, oh my! Malamander is a brilliantly plotted mystery swirling with secrets, myths and the enigmatic residents of one unforgettable sea-side town. - Jennifer Bell, author of The Uncommoners In Herbie’s lost and found system, if red lines are crossing out a name, that means “the owners were declared dead.” Violet’s parents’ entry is crossed out in red, and Herbie apologizes while giving Violet her parents’ lost belongings.Violet tells Herbie that “a fork bounced off the wall behind [her]” when she ran out of the hotel kitchen, where she was not supposed to be. Herbie knows that these were the actions of the head chef who “guards his kitchen like a fortress.”

Do you remember how you felt when you saw the beautiful front cover by George Ermos for the first time? What do you feel his artwork brings to the story?Many of the characters use names such as weasel, fool, stupid, and creep. For example, Herbie calls Mollusc a horrible, hideous man, though not to his face. Sebastian Eels plans to carry a weapon to confront the malamander. He claims it “will be for protection only, to scare it away if I’m seen.” Full of unforgettable characters and brimming with maritime mystery, Malamander is a masterclass in original story-telling. Taylor's magical touch makes you believe in the impossible. - Catherine Doyle, author of The Storm Keeper's Island

Boat Hook Man sees Violet on the beach and “grabs Violet by her collar, lifting her in the air.” She has a hard time speaking because of where he grabbed her. She is left “clutching her throat.” Eels uses the egg to replace Captain K’s hook with a “red crab pincer” and then turns the malamander body into multiple sea creatures. “Captain Kraken’s body trembles and ripples, then collapses into a mass of squid and jellyfish and sea slime.” In Eels’ house, Herbie sees “an empty bottle of whiskey” on the floor near Violet. She insists she did not drink it and asks him, “Do you think I drink whiskey?”

The diner owner says, “In my country, we leave gifts for beings like this, for spirits. Offerings. At night, when I close up, I, too, leave gifts — the fried fish that is left over — outside on the pier. In the morning, it is gone.”